Just Me and You
by tinyhuman02
Summary: Sequel to Better Together: Engaged for two years, Jackson and April's relationship is tested after Mercy West merges with Seattle Grace. New faces and unexpected events threaten to ruin what should be their happily ever after. Semi-AU, semi-canon with S6.
1. A Change Is Coming

**Hey, folks! You guys wanted a sequel, so here it is! So this fic will loosely follow S6 with some alterations (including the shooting, just warning you now). While some dialogue will eventually be used from certain episodes for plot purposes, I'm going to try to avoid rewriting things we saw on the show as this is supposed to be from the Mercy West POV. Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this as much as the first one :)**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Grey's or its characters**

* * *

_Two years ago…_

_Everything was set. Jackson Avery had prepared his proposal down to every single detail. In between the top and the bottom of the fifth inning of the Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees game, the giant scoreboard's video screen would be focused on him and his girlfriend. Their seats were located on the Green Monster, the tall green wall on the left side of Fenway Park. Sitting there was a good decision on his part because they wouldn't be surrounded by too many fans and he had enough room to drop down on one knee._

_Of course, April Kepner was the bashful type when it came to grand gestures like the one he was about to pull off. Jackson sensed she would feel embarrassed by his public proposal, but he couldn't help it. He wanted his hometown to know how lucky he was to be with a woman like her. While she considered herself to be filled with many flaws, he thought she was perfect. Caring, selfless, trustworthy, beautiful. Why it took him so long to notice her romantically, the pretty boy didn't quite know, but he loved her. He had never felt this way about anyone else before._

_Despite only dating for a little under six months, he felt right about proposing to her. Big Joe Kepner had already granted Jackson permission to do so. He just hoped she wouldn't make him feel like he made a mistake._

_He tried not to dwell over it much, but rejection was still a possibility. He had spilled the beans to his family, while April was taking a shower. Catherine Avery adored the redhead and forced herself to keep mum over the idea. However, not everybody was on board. His grandfather, Harper Avery, was indifferent to April because he didn't know her very well, so he told him it was too soon. Both of his older sisters struggled to understand what their baby brother saw in her. They hardly had anything in common, so their relationship puzzled them enough._

_While it hurt not to have his family completely on board with proposing, Jackson ignored the naysayers and went forth with his plan. He was confident. Nervous as hell, but confident._

_It was the top of the fifth inning. Two outs and Derek Jeter was up at bat. Two balls, one strike. Sipping his beer, Jackson's eyes remained on the scoreboard more than the baseball game itself. His left leg jittered underneath the small table in front of him and his palms were slightly sweating. He occasionally lifted his backwards cap to brush his hand against his perspiring shaved head. Thankfully, April hadn't noticed his fidgety behavior. Her eyes gazed down at the baseball diamond while she stuffed her mouth with popcorn. She looked so cute wearing the Red Sox jacket he surprised her with. The navy blue complemented her red hair. He loved seeing her in Boston colors._

_The small black box sat inside the pocket of his jeans. His plan was fairly simple – wait for the announcer to start speaking and for them to appear on the jumbo screen. By the time April figured everything out, he hoped to be down on one knee with the open ring box in his hand. All she needed to do was accept his proposal and the rest would be history._

_Three balls, two strikes. Why was this top half of the inning going by so slowly?_

_"C'mon, already," Jackson groaned, leaning forward before he yelled, "Strike the bastard out already!"_

_April giggled at his frustration. She knew her boyfriend was intense when it came to sports, but his hatred towards the Yankees really set him off. "No need to be hostile, babe," she teased._

_"I'm sorry. This top half of the inning feels like it's been going on for hours already," he bitterly replied, then he pointed towards home plate. "And I really hate Jeter. I don't care that he's a great athlete. He's a Yankee, so it's mandatory to loathe him."_

_"I wish I knew more about this rivalry stuff," she sheepishly said._

_Jackson kissed her cheek and smiled. "You will eventually. I'll teach you everything you need to know about my teams and their rivals," he assured her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. A few seconds later, he raised both of his arms in triumph after the top half of the inning ended via strikeout._

_This was it. The moment of truth. He acted as casually as possible while he sat up in his chair. It could be one of the best days of his life – or one of the worst._

_The teams below were busy preparing for the bottom half of the inning when the PA announcer's voice blared through the speakers. "Ladies and gentlemen, please turn your attention to the video board where one Red Sox fan is about to make his girlfriend the happiest woman on Earth!"_

_"Oh! These proposals are so fun to watch," April enthusiastically said, smiling brightly as she glanced at the screen._

_While she was distracted by the jumbo screen, Jackson carefully got down on one knee as he pulled the black box out of his pocket. He waited for her to react to their faces on the screen, but there wasn't a gasp or a shriek out of her. What was taking so long?_

_The crowd erupted in cheers at the sight of the couple on the video screen except April simply smiled. Not exactly the reaction he wanted from her. For somebody who obsessed over chick flicks and fluffy romantic endings, her response was underwhelming. She also hadn't looked at him once. Glancing up at the screen, Jackson finally realized what the problem was._

_Another couple was spotlighted instead._

_"No!" he shouted, shoving the box back into his pocket as he stood up. Jackson threw his arms over his head as he watched a random couple become engaged in front of the 36,000 plus crowd in the stadium. He had specifically requested for his proposal to happen in the middle of the fifth inning. The marketing folks assured him it would be his moment. "Are you kidding me?!"_

_April stared at her boyfriend dumbfounded. "Jackson, what's the matter?" she questioned worriedly. He was furious and he appeared ready to hop over the edge of the Green Monster to rage even more. "Calm down! What's wrong?!"_

_He ignored her questions and started dialing a number on his cell phone. Plugging his ear to block out the crowd noise, Jackson impatiently waited for the other line to answer. "Uhh, yeah. Hello? I called in two freaking weeks ago about proposing to my girlfriend, but you imbeciles focused on a different couple!" he angrily complained, unaware of the fact that April could hear his rants. "You completely ruined what was supposed to be the perfect proposal!"_

_Her mouth dropped open upon hearing the word proposal. She hadn't seen it coming at all. In a way, she was relieved the proposal had gone awry because it saved herself from turning beet red out of embarrassment. But at the same time, she found it sweet that he wanted to ask for her hand in marriage in front of a large crowd. It showed he wasn't ashamed to be with her._

_Except the romantic aspect of the proposal was ruined and the profane words coming out of Jackson's mouth weren't endearing. April attempted to catch his attention by tugging on the hem of his shirt, but he was too busy harassing the person on the other line of his call._

_She rolled her eyes, facing forward again as the baseball game continued. Boston's first batter was up, but her boyfriend continued to rant and complain on his cell phone. He ignored the fans around them who were yelling at him to shut up and sit down. The pretty boy dismissively waved his hand as he persisted on badgering whoever he was speaking to._

_The cracking sound of a bat alerted April as she watched the baseball fly high up in the air. Red Sox fans started cheering at what appeared to be a homerun – with the baseball heading towards the Green Monster. Her eyes widened when the physics nerd in her quickly projected where it could possibly land._

_"Jackson," she called out, yanking on his shirt again. "Jackson!"_

_By the time she finally caught his attention, the baseball beamed the side of Jackson's head and knocked him over._

* * *

_As if the day couldn't get any worse, Jackson was rushed to the emergency room at Mass Gen after the baseball knocked him unconscious. Fortunately, he awoke not too long after the ambulance arrived, but April continued to panic. She feared he may have sustained a subdural hematoma, so she wasn't going to relax until the CT scans came out clean._

_"It was a sign that his proposal was too soon," Harper Avery sneered as he peeked inside of Jackson's hospital room. He watched April stroke the top of his grandson's head from the hallway. "We should have talked him out of it before he decided to go through with his plan."_

_"Nonsense," Catherine disagreed. "April is a lovely woman. My baby boy chose wisely. Once you get to know her better, you'll understand why Jackson's completely head over heels for her."_

_Meanwhile inside of the room, Jackson pretended not to notice his family members spying on him from outside. He kept his eyes on April to distract himself. "God, can they just go away?" he mumbled irritably. Their presence only made his throbbing head hurt even more._

_"They're concerned, that's all. You're lucky you only have a concussion. You could've been bleeding in your brain and slowly dying on me," April noted and softly smiled at him. "If that was the case, it would be the worst proposal ever."_

_He slowly shook his head. "I'm sorry. You weren't supposed to know I was proposing until it happened, but those morons at the stadium-"_

_"I think right now would be perfect," she suggested. He furrowed his eyebrows at her and she chuckled. "I mean it. The first time we met was in a hospital. It's much more fitting than at a noisy baseball game, Jackson."_

_"You really want it this way?"_

_April pressed her forehead against Jackson's. "You can't possibly assume I'll turn you down," she playfully murmured. "Where'd you hide the ring?"_

_"Left pocket of my jeans," he answered with a half-smile. Nothing about proposing in a hospital bed was romantic to him. While she temporarily left his side to retrieve the black box from his jeans, he mentally scolded himself for not going with the cliché restaurant proposal instead. "Are you absolutely sure?"_

_"Mhmm," she cheerfully hummed and returned to his bedside, handing the box to her boyfriend._

_Jackson carefully pushed himself up. He refused to propose to her lying flat on his back. Taking her left hand into his, he used his right hand to open the box. "I know this isn't the most romantic setting and things didn't go according to plan, but you made a good point. We did first meet in a hospital and I knew from the start that you wouldn't be like the other doctors. You saw me for me and not by my family name. You always get me and that's just one of the many things I love about you."_

_"Maybe this is too soon to some people, but when I feel right about something I go for it. This is one of those times… although, I would prefer not being concussed while I propose to you," he continued, pausing to share a laugh with April. "Before we met, I wasn't the kind of guy who opened up to others about my feelings, but you changed me. And I also think I changed you. We changed each other for the better. April Kepner, will you make me the happiest patient in this hospital and be my wife for the rest of our lives?"_

_The tearful redhead quickly nodded her head, placing her hands on Jackson's cheeks and kissing him. "Yes," she mumbled against his lips. "Of course, yes!"_

_They briefly parted, so he could slip the diamond ring onto her finger. He kissed her again, wrapping his arms tightly around her lower back. Catherine's celebratory screeches could be heard from the hallway, which made them both laugh again._

_"You're going to be one gorgeous bride," he happily whispered, stroking his now fiancée's cheeks with his thumbs. "And our wedding will be perfect."_

* * *

The alarm clock buzzed, waking up both Jackson and April. It was 6 AM, but neither of them were ready to climb out of bed just yet. She blindly reached for the clock on the bedside table and slapped her palm against it. Lying on her side, she felt her fiancé's arm drape over her waist as he snuggled against her back.

"Fifteen more minutes," he mumbled. Pushing aside her tangled auburn locks, Jackson placed gentle kisses against her neck while he caressed her stomach with his hand. "Fifteen minutes, then we can jump in the shower."

The couple was engaged for two years now and their relationship remained strong. Following their engagement, they found an apartment ten minutes away from the Mercy West Medical Center and had been living there ever since. Their friends joked that they didn't have to get married anymore because they already acted like husband and wife. No children, but if their apartment complex allowed pets, they would have bought a dog and referred to it as their baby.

Mama Avery constantly nagged them for postponing the wedding. They were practically baby surgeons when they first got engaged. Neither of them were quite ready to take that special trip down the aisle. After a year, April wanted to start planning, but Jackson wasn't so eager to. They were doing just fine, so he didn't feel they had to jump into wedding talks just yet. Another year passed and Catherine offered to plan all of the arrangements. However, Jackson politely declined because he already knew she would go for an extreme and overpriced wedding. He knew April wanted simple, yet beautiful. A church wedding for sure.

April's parents suggested an outdoor wedding at the family farm during the summer. Jackson wasn't particularly thrilled over the idea. He had visited her tiny town of Moline twice since he first met Karen and Joe and he quickly learned he and farm life didn't mix. Of course, his side of the family wanted him to get married in Boston. Nobody could reach an agreement over where to have the wedding, so the planning was put on the backburner once more.

But they were happy. At times, April continued to wonder how she ended up with a man like Jackson. He was an unbelievably gorgeous man, while she considered herself to be average. Complete opposites. In the end, the man had been in love with her for almost three years and counting, so she was doing something right in their relationship.

"Fifteen more minutes to do what?" she playfully asked. They were naked underneath the covers and she knew what he wanted to do based on the way he kissed her neck and his hand roamed up and down her body. "Maybe I should get a head start with breakfast instead."

"Nope. You're not going anywhere," he huskily said, rolling his fiancée onto her back and kissing her lips. "We don't have to be at the hospital until 7:15 and we only live ten minutes away. Why do you always set up the alarm so early?"

"You may not need much time to get ready, but I do," she murmured in between kisses.

April's mind worked on a tight schedule. Never wanted to be late for anything, but Jackson managed to find ways to sidetrack her a lot. She blamed his bluish-green eyes, his lips and smile, his perfectly crafted body.

And the sex continued to be off the charts.

Her cell phone vibrated on the bedside table. She reached for it, while he continued to kiss his way down to her neck and shoulders. There was a new text message waiting for her and she read it out loud. "Reed says to check our e-mail. The Chief sent something out to everybody."

She climbed out of bed, taking the blanket with her. Sitting at the desk in their bedroom, April flipped open her laptop and signed in to her e-mail. "There's an important meeting at eight o'clock in the auditorium. Doesn't say what it's for, but he wants all interns, residents and attendings there."

"Probably some new protocol again. You know he changes them every six months," Jackson nonchalantly replied. He rolled out of bed and playfully tugged on the blanket. "I'm cold. Quit hogging the blanket."

"Or you can put some clothes on," she teased, sticking her tongue out. "Or better yet. Go take a shower. If you go now, I will be there in two minutes. I promise."

April laughed at how fast Jackson ran into their bathroom and turned on the shower. Plus, she had a nice view of his ass. That was a view she never grew tired seeing. After skimming the rest of her e-mails, she decided to stop torturing her fiancé and join him in the shower.

* * *

Surgeons filled the auditorium for their meeting with Lance Phillips, the Chief of Surgery at Mercy West. Rumors and speculations had quickly floated around the hospital about what the meeting was for. Some suspected Dr. Phillips was resigning. He was pushing seventy and many doctors had been anticipating his retirement. Others expected a new protocol to be issued, which happened more than once a year. And the rest simply believed it was going to be another boring presentation that allowed many of them to catch extra sleep.

"Where are Charles and Reed?" April scanned the sea of orange and gray scrubs for her friends. She had saved seats for them, but they were running fashionably late. "Do you see them?"

"They're always late. Mostly due to Charles," Jackson answered while he folded his lab coat into a pillow for the back of his seat. He laid his head against it and closed his eyes. "Wake me up when Phillips starts talking."

She rolled her eyes at her fiancé, then she turned towards Trevor Stanley, who sat next to her left side. Of the five former interns, he had changed the most. His short, brown and spiky hair was now grown out and shaggy. He was more open about his homosexuality, even living with his boyfriend, Steven, whom he met during their intern year. Pediatric surgery was his specialty of choice.

"Should we text them?" she asked him.

Trevor shook his head. "They'll be here. Charles probably took a detour to the cafeteria or something. Dude never cared about being on time. If he hasn't changed since our intern year, he won't change now," he scoffed. "It's kind of amazing how much Reed can tolerate his sluggishness."

Five minutes prior to the beginning of their meeting, Reed Adamson shimmied her way through their row with Charles Percy lagging behind, stuffing his mouth with a jelly donut. "Sorry, guys. Thanks for saving us seats. I thought we'd have to sit in the front because of lard ass over there," she irritably greeted her friends and sat down beside Trevor. "Actually, can we switch, Trev? I don't want to sit next to Charlie right now."

"Another fight, I see," Trevor stated, unsurprised by her anger. He switched seats with Reed, then he smirked at Charles when he occupied the other empty seat. "What'd you do now?"

The burly man simply shrugged and quietly finished his donut. Charles and Reed were a complicated couple. Their relationship consisted of breaking up and making up shortly afterwards. They also lived together, so their friends were hardly surprised whenever they had one of their many splits because neither of them ever actually threatened to move out.

April exchanged glances between the silent couple. "So, what happened?"

Reed slouched in her seat and folded her arms. "He took the last jelly donut."

"That's it?" she chuckled.

"Well, I wanted it. He knew I wanted it, so he did the douchey thing and snatched it before I could," her best friend replied agitatedly. "No courtesy for his girlfriend at all. Freaking chauvinistic pig."

Charles leaned forward and smugly grinned at Reed. "Who you _love_," he reminded her.

"Shut up," she retorted, avoiding eye contact with him. "Keep this up and you're getting the couch tonight."

Various conversations in the auditorium died down as Chief Phillips took the stage. There wasn't a podium, which meant they weren't in for a snooze worthy presentation. "Good morning, everybody. I promise I won't take up too much of your time. I know you all have patients to tend to. If there's an absolute emergency, feel free to leave in a courteous manner," he started, slowly pacing back and forth across the stage as he kept his eyes on his surgeons. "Now, I called this meeting to share important news with all of you. As you know, the economy hasn't been kind to us lately. Budgets are tight and there are more people than jobs available. In the upcoming weeks, Mercy West will begin the transition of merging with Seattle Grace Hospital."

The news drew whispers and murmurs from the shocked doctors in the auditorium. Those who were barely awake were now fully attentive to what the Chief had to say.

"Unfortunately, this means there will be cuts made from both programs. Every department in both hospitals will be making cuts, not just the surgical program. These cuts are going to be incredibly difficult decisions. You are all fine doctors and surgeons, but not everyone here will survive the merger," he continued with a frown. "And once Mercy West completes the necessary steps towards merging with Seattle Grace, I will resign from my position as Chief of Surgery and announce my retirement. You will be working under Chief Richard Webber by then."

"There will be three waves of cuts. I know this is a stressful time, but please be 100% devoted to your patients. You are still doctors here at Mercy West. Also, keep in mind that more cuts will be made after the merger. Work diligently and good luck to you all."

Soon after Chief Phillips finished speaking, almost everybody's hands shot up in the air. Charles shook his head as he turned to face his colleagues. "We're screwed."

* * *

"This sucks," Reed whined while she ate her lunch. She and the four other residents were at their typical meeting place on the rooftop of the hospital. The news of the merger made everyone paranoid, especially those who weren't fourth or fifth year residents. "Seattle Grace has a much bigger program than us. Their residents will have priority."

"Nah. Because they're bigger, _they'll_ be the ones making more cuts," Jackson assured her. "I'm not worried. We're all competent residents. The attendings love us and we're only third years."

April shook her head. "That doesn't guarantee us anything," she worriedly said. "We're moving into _their_ hospital. We'll be like interns, the bottom of the surgical food chain. Nobody likes being the new kid in school and the ones who already rule it most definitely hate the newbies who come in, sit at their favorite tables in the cafeteria and try to outshine them."

"Kepner, you're the last person to worry," Charles dismissed. "You've been at the top of our class since intern year. Seriously, there's no way you're getting cut from the program."

"Don't jinx it!" she retorted. "Anyway, didn't you hear what Chief Phillips said? Even if we all survive the merger, more cuts will be made. And you know their Chief already has his favorites, so we're the expendable ones since he doesn't know how great any of us are."

"Interns, first years and second years should be worrying the most," Trevor chimed in. "In fact, I heard most of the cuts are going to happen to them because they're less experienced than us. Fifth years are practically safe and so are the fourth years."

"Which makes us the iffy group," the redhead miserably noted. And she thought her and Jackson's wedding would be their biggest problem because nothing was set in stone yet. "How am I supposed to become a neurosurgeon if there's no hospital for me to learn?"

Reed groaned. "April, just stop it. Your paranoia isn't going to make anybody feel better."

Jackson wrapped his arm around April's shoulders and kissed her temple. "Relax, okay? Try not to think about the merger right now," he comforted her, gently rubbing his hand up and down her arm. "We're going to be fine. We're _all_ going to be fine."

* * *

The first wave of cuts had everybody looking out for themselves. As expected, over half of the interns were released from the program. A small portion of the first year residents met their unfortunate fates as well.

In the second wave, more first years were cut along with some second years. Many nurses in the surgical wing also lost their jobs.

The last wave was the one the third year residents and higher classes feared the most because a very small group of them were likely to be next on the chopping block. It had been a stressful month for those who remained employed at Mercy West. Competition for surgeries increased amongst the residents and doctors were more cutthroat than ever. Nobody wanted that dreaded page to Chief Phillips' office because they all knew it meant bad news, especially when it was close to the end of their shifts.

Jackson entered the residents locker room, removing his lab coat as he walked towards his locker. "Looks like I'm safe," he tiredly announced. "Supposedly, anybody who hadn't received a page by 6 PM still has a job. It's half past that, so I think I can stop worrying."

April let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness," she softly said as she changed into her street clothes. "I didn't get a page either."

He congratulated her with a kiss. "See? I told you we'd be fine, babe."

Charles waved at his best friend. "Hey, us too!" he excitedly replied, referring to Reed and himself. "We should celebrate at Schmo's. Where's Trev?"

Quietly walking into the locker room, Trevor appeared shell-shocked as his friends looked on concerned. They eagerly waited for him to announce his fate and he slowly shook his head. "I got cut," he mumbled, then he cleared his throat. "I uhh… they cut me."

The foursome stared back at him stunned. All of them were too speechless to respond. Even Charles couldn't think of anything witty to say as Trevor went to his locker. They were considered rock star residents. Attendings loved having them on their service. Their fellow residents fully expected all five to survive the cuts.

April approached Trevor and placed her hand on his shoulder. "What did they say to you?"

"That it's nothing personal. Tough decisions were made blah, blah, blah…" He removed his lab coat and furiously threw it into his locker. "I was the last cut! Can you believe it? They couldn't cut some measly first year or another second year? This fucking blows."

"Uhh, do you want to drink it up at Schmo's?" Charles reluctantly asked.

"No, I don't want to drink it up at Schmo's!" Trevor exclaimed, scowling at his friend. "I just lost my job, you asshole."

Jackson waved his arms. "Let's cool it, guys. Give him some space," he instructed.

The locker room was silent again with the exception of people having their own private conversations and lockers opening and closing. Trevor found the silence unbearable and decided to change out of his scrubs in a private restroom. When he returned his friends were waiting for him, all of them dressed in their street clothes.

"You don't have to wait up for me," he bitterly stated. "I still have to clean out my locker, so go do whatever you guys planned on doing without me. Don't let me ruin your fun because you survived the cuts and I didn't."

"Actually, I want to go home," April dejectedly told Jackson. She slipped her hand into his and led him towards the exit. "I'll call you tomorrow, Trevor."

Charles and Reed were next to leave. "Sorry, man," the dark haired man sympathetically said as they passed by Trevor, who started taking his belongings out of his locker.

Nobody was in the mood to celebrate anymore. Trevor losing his place in the program proved it didn't matter how skilled or popular they were. It was all about numbers and any one of them could go at any moment.

* * *

**Don't worry, Trevor will still be in this story ;) As always, feedback is much appreciated!**


	2. New Kids On The Block

**Thank you for the reviews! This chapter is based on 6x05.**

**Enjoy! :)**

* * *

The first day of the Seattle Grace-Mercy West merger had arrived. Mercy West's emergency room had officially shut down and soon, the rest of the hospital would follow suit. The transition wasn't going to be easy for anybody, especially when jobs continued to be on the line regardless of surviving the first three stages of cuts by both programs. It was expected that the residents in orange would be loathed immediately by the baby blue brigade. They were the invaders, the new kids. Nobody was going to bow down to them whether or not they were better at their jobs than their Seattle Grace counterparts.

And the Mercy West crew was already at a disadvantage because most of them lived on the other side of town where their former hospital was located. Now they were required to fight through morning traffic in the downtown area to get to work.

"We're not late, April," Jackson assured his fiancée as they rushed out of the parking lot and towards the entrance of the newly named Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital. He clutched her hand while weaving around various people walking at a normal pace.

"It's 7:50. Our shifts start at 8 AM," she worriedly responded, her eyes staring at her watch.

"Which means we're not late. Stop freaking out."

He nearly bumped into an Asian woman on their way to the entrance. It was strange walking into that building again. The last time they were in Seattle Grace, Trevor had been shot and Jackson was almost shot as well, and April had been contemplating transferring into their program. They were interns then. Strolling through the lobby, he spotted an elevator door ready to close and ran towards it. He managed to keep it open, letting April inside first.

"Avery, wait up!"

Jackson held the door open once more as Charles and Reed joined them inside of the elevator with a brunette Caucasian man in street clothes quietly standing in the middle of the foursome. He appeared disgruntled to see them, clearly one of _their_ doctors.

As the elevator traveled up to the fourth floor, April eyed the man in the middle. She was certain she had seen him before, perhaps during one of her few visits to the hospital when she was an intern. He noticed her staring and slightly scowled at her. When the doors opened the man rushed out of the elevator as the four Mercy Westers trailed behind.

The residents locker room was crowded and most of the cubbies inside were already taken. Jackson and Charles went one direction, while April and Reed went the other. They had a few minutes to get settled in before reporting downstairs to the pit.

Jackson placed his work bag inside of a cubby, then he slipped on his lab coat and double checked his pockets for all of the supplies he typically kept in them. Scanning across the room, he found April leaning against her cubby and diligently writing notes in her red notebook. It felt like their first day as interns all over again. She had been nervous since the night before. Even sex hadn't loosened her up. But he couldn't keep an eye on her all day. He had his own back to watch out for.

"Trev should be here," Charles stated after he wore his lab coat. "I bet he's better than half of the goons who've been working here. Want to bet we'll be stuck doing rectal exams, while their doctors actually get good cases?"

"If we have to fight for cases, then that's what we'll have to do. No doubt they'll be doing the same thing, so we have to show them they can't push us around," his best friend confidently said. "Remember, attendings loved us at Mercy West. No reason why it can't happen here. We just have to prove our worth without playing too dirty. Can't be too aggressive on the first day."

Both men turned their attention to an argument on the other side of the locker room. Reed and a Seattle Grace doctor with short blonde hair were almost in each other's faces until the man from the elevator separated them. Neither of them were surprised to see their friend already stirring up trouble on their first day. She was feisty when she wanted to be and hardly backed down to anybody who confronted her.

"Geez, you'd think she has mental problems or something," Reed jokingly muttered, sharing a laugh with April. "What's the big deal about the cubby I took? Is it like some sacred shrine that they pray to every morning?"

"Barely five minutes in this hospital and they already think we're big, bad wolves looking to rip them into shreds," the redhead replied, her eyes focused on the blonde surgeon. She definitely remembered her. Stevens was her last name from what she could recall during their past encounters. Something about her was different. Aside from the very short haircut, she appeared sickly, making her extremely curious. "Does that woman seem off to you?"

"The one who went from calm to psycho within ten seconds? Of course she seems off."

April shook her head. "No, I mean… well, nevermind. Maybe she's just as scared as we are because we're all fighting for limited spots," she insisted.

"We can't show them we're scared, April. Don't show your vulnerable side under any circumstances," Reed advised. While her best friend's confidence had grown since their intern days, she knew April still had a fragile side to her. "Oh, and don't try too hard to make people like you. That's when they actually start to _dislike_ you."

"I'm easy to like," she claimed, then she furrowed her eyebrows at Reed when her former roommate remained quiet. "What? I am. You were the exception."

"Charles hated you. Trevor too. And Jackson thought you were weird."

April lightly slapped her friend's arm before they met up with Jackson and Charles in the hallway. The foursome found the lobby where they spotted a familiar blonde in navy blue scrubs standing by the nurses' station.

Charles grinned from ear to ear and spread his arms out for a hug. "Swanson, I bet you thought you'd never see any of us again," he obnoxiously blurted out to get their former resident's attention.

Valerie Swanson gazed up from her chart, pursing her lips at the sight of Charles. "Oh, it's you again," she unenthusiastically greeted him. Having finished her residency at Mercy West, she was now a cardiothoracic fellow at Seattle Grace. She smirked at the foursome as she folded her arms. "Just when I was finally fortunate to land a gig here, it could all go away because of this goddamn merger. How are my favorite guppies?"

"Trying to survive," April sheepishly answered. Her history with Swanson was both good and bad. During their intern year, the blonde surgeon had unsuccessfully attempted to steal Jackson away from her. It resulted in a bold confrontation in which the redhead punched her in front of their colleagues at a party. They worked out their differences and she even gained a little more respect from the cardiothoracic surgeon. "I'm sure your job is safer than ours."

"This hospital's going to feel like a madhouse for the next few months until all of the cuts have been made, but thank God I'm not a resident anymore," she arrogantly stated, smirking at the foursome. "As far as I know, the fellows are safe. By the way, weren't there five of you? Where's umm, what's his name? Stanley?"

All four of their faces dropped, then Jackson responded, "He was cut before the merger, unfortunately."

Swanson sighed. "Well, that's too bad. I liked him. Anyway, you people should find a case to leech onto. You're not going to impress anybody standing around like new kids who can't find the cafeteria," she instructed.

"We were just about to head downstairs to the pit," April chirped. "We're bound to find something there."

Charles placed his hand against his chest. "Actually, yours truly has been assigned to a Dr. Bailey," he announced. "Is she cool?"

Swanson snickered as she handed off her chart to a nurse. "I suppose we could put it that way," she cryptically answered before walking past the group. "Good luck, guppies. Don't drown on your first day."

Reed rolled her eyes and softly laughed. "She's still the same sarcastic bitch we met at Mercy West," she noted. She gave Charles a quick kiss on the cheek. "Try not to make a fool of yourself."

"You're so encouraging," her boyfriend sneered before he strolled down the hallway. "Later, guys."

Jackson, April and Reed rode the elevator to the emergency room. Because Mercy West's ER was closed, they were receiving all of the traumas and walk-ins at their new hospital. It was crowded inside, so extra hands were definitely needed. They approached a group of Seattle Grace residents and a redheaded man in navy blue scrubs giving orders to go anywhere help was needed, but the pretty boy thought better.

"At Mercy West, we do zones. When it's super busy we just give everyone a zone, a space. The nurses put a person in that space. You know it's your patient. Helps you get to 'em quicker," he explained to the attending.

The Asian doctor Jackson nearly bumped into outside stepped forward. "Yeah, well, this is the ER not a schoolyard. We're not playing four square," she quipped, eliciting smirks from the other residents.

"I like it," the attending countered, puzzling her in the process. The name on his lab coat was Owen Hunt. "It's a good idea. Let's try it. What's your name?"

"Jackson Avery," the Mercy West doctor introduced himself.

"Dr. Avery, Dr. Hunt," Owen replied, shaking the new guy's hand before walking away. "It's all yours. Zone away."

Jackson proudly smiled, waving his arm at April and Reed to follow him. His confidence had already impressed one attending and rattled the snarky surgeons in baby blue. The threesome walked past the dumbfounded Seattle Grace residents after making them look like fools. So far, adjusting to a new workplace hadn't been as difficult as they had anticipated.

* * *

The morning had gone pleasantly well for at least half of the Mercy West foursome. It hadn't taken long for April to make an impression on Derek Shepherd, the top neurosurgeon in the country, despite having to work with a resident named Lexie Grey, who apparently had a photographic memory. She had been contemplating neurosurgery since her intern year, so landing on the attending's good side was important.

Jackson was forced to work with Cristina Yang, the resident he had embarrassed earlier in the pit. However, she refused to seek any help from him, but he had the last laugh when he tackled a patient and stopped him from further injuring another. He received a round of applause for his efforts, making him the hero yet again. Like his fiancée, he managed to score a surgery on his first day.

Reed clashed with Alex Karev, the grumpy man from the elevator. They constantly bickered back and forth over diagnosing their patient, neither of them wanting to back down. Her Seattle Grace counterpart was a douche and if her job wasn't on the line, she likely would have decked him when she had the chance.

For Charles, his morning had a rough start. He was the lone Mercy West doctor on Miranda Bailey's service and the other Seattle Grace residents eyed him as if he came from another planet, but he managed to redeem himself with Izzie Stevens. After he apologized for the incident with Reed in the locker room, she warmed up to him when he learned of her cancer and provided personal information about his relationship with his girlfriend. And he earned himself the coveted code to the research library that the blonde doctor initially refused to give him.

His fake charm so far had been working to his favor and he couldn't help but brag to his friends in the lobby. "The woman does whatever I ask. I want something, she gets it for me. The research library – anytime you want to go in and it's closed, just say the word. She gave me the code to the place," he gloated to Reed and April.

"You're kidding," Reed replied in amazement. Her boyfriend wasn't a complete moron after all, she thought.

"She can't do enough for me. It's like I have my own surgical bitch," he arrogantly bragged.

April found amusement in the situation until she noticed Izzie standing nearby, visibly upset after overhearing Charles' cruel words about her. She quickly approached him, clearing her throat to let him know he was basically screwed. She and Reed slowly backed away as the Seattle Grace doctor approached him with two cups of coffee. The two best friends snickered after Izzie dropped his coffee onto the floor, spilling it all over his shoes before she walked away.

Reed smirked at Charles as he stared at his coffee drenched shoes. Okay, so some moron still existed in that giant head of his. She and April wandered off, waiting until they were far away from their friend before they burst out laughing.

"Alright, as great as it was that he weaseled his way to get the research library code, I'd say he deserved that," she stated. "At least he got a Seattle Grace doctor who gave him a chance. Mine? Total dick. We're at the point where we're stealing our patient's chart from each other."

"Mine hasn't been too harsh. Well, actually she doesn't really try to talk to me. She supposedly has photographic memory, but she couldn't tell me where my red notebook was," April mentioned, rolling her eyes. "By the way, have you seen it? I don't know where it is."

"You lost your notebook? That's very unlike you. I told you to attach a leash to it," Reed teasingly scolded her.

"You'd tell me the truth if you took it as a joke, right?" she worriedly asked. "The last and only time you stole my notebook was during our intern year, but please tell me you're messing with me again because I don't want it to end up in the wrong hands."

Her best friend held up her hands in front of her chest. "I'm innocent. I didn't take it," she insisted. "You're actually freaking out about this, aren't you?"

April nodded, her eyes wide open. "I write things in there that people who don't know me won't understand. I have certain quotes written from intern year _and_ some very personal thoughts are in that notebook."

Reed softly groaned. "April, what did I tell you about treating your notebook like a diary? In fact, why don't you just buy one instead? You know, one with a lock?" she suggested. Throwing her arm over the redhead's shoulder, she smiled. "Don't worry too much, okay? Your notebook will pop up eventually. Maybe you should retrace your steps. Sometimes that helps."

"There are too many steps to retrace," she dejectedly replied, then she whispered, "A few of my entries are about sex with Jackson."

"Seriously?" Reed gasped and shook her head. She gently patted her colleague's shoulder and sighed. "Oh, April. You better pray that notebook is just lying around somewhere in the garbage."

* * *

Jackson finished scrubbing out of his first surgery, successfully assisting Owen in correcting a femoral artery pseudoaneurysm. Cristina may have won the early rounds, but he won the fight by diagnosing their patient and landing a spot in the operating room. Strolling down the hallway with a smug smile on his face, he was on his way to the cafeteria to finally eat a very late lunch. Rounding the corner and heading towards his direction was April, who had tears streaming down her face.

"April," he called out to her, pulling her aside into an empty stairwell. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I-I I know I'm not supposed to show them that I'm weak, but…" She choked back a sob trying to recollect herself. "The people here are _terrible_. Th-they are cruel an-and conniving backstabbers-"

He held his fiancée against his chest and soothingly rubbed her back. "Calm down for a minute. What happened?"

April cleared her throat, resting her head against Jackson's shoulder. "One of their doctors stole my notebook and read it," she tearfully murmured. "She used things I wrote in there against me, so I'd look bad in front of Dr. Shepherd. We were getting ready to scrub in on a surgery based on _my_ suggestions and she stole it from me. She even had the nerve to point out that I had a nose job!"

Jackson quietly laughed as he recalled the day Charles shattered April's nose at a Sonics game during their intern year. "Yeah, but you didn't get the nose job for cosmetic reasons. The people who care about you are fully aware of that. Forget about what that one doctor thinks. She's obviously intimidated by you," he said, kissing the top of her head.

"It's like the first month of intern year all over again. They hate us, Jackson," she replied and frowned.

"It's only the first day, babe. Believe it or not, there are people here who don't mind our presence. You're going to be fine," he advised, wrapping his large arms around her smaller frame.

"Easy for you to say. You handle your confidence much better than I do."

He shook his head. "That's not true. Where'd that super confident woman from Mercy West go? Before the merger, you walked around the hospital thinking nobody could take you down. I know it's hard right now, but you'll earn the respect of the Seattle Grace doctors soon. You're too good of a surgeon to be treated this way."

She partially pulled away from him and sadly smiled. "You have to say those things because we're engaged."

"Nope, because it's true. Well, and also because I love you," Jackson answered with a smirk, innocently placing his hands behind his back. "Did I ever tell you how cute you look with a scrub cap on? It lets me see your entire face."

April chuckled as she dried her eyes with the collar of her scrub top. "Are you trying to flatter me for sex?"

"I wanted to get you smiling again, but I don't object to sex," he playfully twitched his eyebrows with a mischievous grin on his face. She laughed and lightly smacked his abdomen with her forearm. "I wonder if the on-call rooms here are better than Mercy West's."

"Jackson, we're not having sex here on our first day. That's so unprofessional."

"I was joking," he humorously replied. Jackson rubbed his hands along April's shoulders. "So, are you okay now?"

"Yeah, I'm good. I should go scrub in before Shepherd thinks I bailed on them."

He leaned forward, kissing her lips. "Kick ass in there."

She smiled, opening the door leading back into the hallway. "Oh, wait. How's your day been?" she asked, turning around to face her fiancé.

"It's actually going pretty well. Just got out of surgery, but we can talk about it after work," he responded while he followed her back inside. Jackson grabbed a hold of April's hand and gently squeezed it. "Don't let that bitch see you down, okay?"

"I'll try."

"No, try. Just do," he countered before letting her leave.

Watching her stroll down the hallway, the pretty boy hoped people wouldn't give her such a hard time. Otherwise, he was going to start kicking some asses and taking names.

* * *

The first day at Seattle Grace Mercy West felt like it was never going to end. Doctors clashed with each other trying to protect themselves from losing their jobs. They were all aware more cuts were coming because every department in the hospital was over capacity, but the foursome in orange were thankful that none of them had screwed up on the job. Exhausted and ready to go home, they watched the mixture of baby blue and orange clad doctors walk through the lobby below them.

"I think we can rule this place," Charles boldly declared. His three friends simultaneously glanced back at him, unconvinced by his statement. He shrugged, furrowing his eyebrows. "What? It can happen."

"A little too soon for that, Charlie," Reed retorted. She remained annoyed and frustrated with how her day went. Although she and Alex worked past their issues with each other, he was still an ass to her. "Anybody want to go get a drink? Heard the bar across the street is better than Schmo's."

Jackson sighed, nodding his head. "I'm down for two drinks."

"I could go for three," April muttered, drawing skeptical stares from her peers. "I meant three _shots_. Three, small and not very strong shots. We do have to be here early again tomorrow."

"Let's get our stuff and go," he suggested, draping his arm over her shoulder as the foursome headed for the locker room.

Since they arrived at the hospital dressed in their scrubs, they had no choice but to enter the Emerald City Bar in them as well. It was slightly embarrassing because as soon as they walked through the door they immediately drew glares from some bystanders who were likely Seattle Grace staff members.

"Great. Even in the freaking bar, they hate us," Reed bitterly said as they approached an empty booth by the wall.

"Whatever. Ignore them," Jackson advised, sitting beside April. He scanned the bar, which was larger than the Queen City Bar they were used to hanging out in at the other side of town, and overheard somebody refer to the place as Joe's. Checking out the bartender, he was amused to find a similar resemblance to their guy, nicknamed Schmo. "Well, I'll be damned."

"What?" April asked curiously.

Jackson pointed out Joe the bartender and softly laughed. "He looks a lot like Schmo. I bet he's Joe."

Reed chuckled. "Joe and Schmo. Sounds like Seattle Grace and Mercy West were always meant to be," she quipped, then she spotted a familiar blonde woman in street clothes sitting at the counter. "Oh, gosh. _She's_ here too. I hope she doesn't try to fight me again. You think I could take her?"

"Cut her some slack. Her shit day likely became shittier," Charles said, staring at the back of Izzie's head. "She literally screwed our patient out of receiving the kidney she needs to stay alive because she told the nurse to give her the wrong medication. I think she's the first casualty of the merger. And I was a total dick to her, so I feel kind of responsible."

"You can't blame yourself for a mistake she made, but I'll agree with you being a dick," his girlfriend replied. "I think we all pulled some dick moves today."

"I didn't," April chirped. "If anything, all I did was be myself and I got my notebook stolen for it. Even though I have it back, Ms. Photographic Memory probably has all of my personal thoughts memorized."

Jackson placed a kiss on her temple. "Don't worry about it. Maybe she won't even tell anybody what she read." He watched his fiancée slide out of the booth and raised his eyebrow. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to talk to Stevens."

"Why?"

"I've been meaning to ask her a question."

Charles waved his hand. "Hey, while you're at the bar can you order us a pitcher?"

"Fine," she groaned, leaving her table and approaching the counter. April purposely stood beside Izzie and ordered a pitcher of beer. She slowly eyed the two empty shot glasses in front of the blonde woman, then she forced herself to smile. "Long day, huh?"

Izzie guffawed, staring down at her third shot glass filled with tequila. "You have no idea," she murmured.

"Umm… about Charles-"

"You don't need to apologize for him. He already tried and frankly, I don't care. I got fired because of his indirect stupidity." She closed her eyes, inhaling sharply. "I was distracted for one freaking minute and it cost me my job. I may have killed a woman who deserved to live for longer."

"I-I I'm sorry this happened to you," April awkwardly replied, nervously biting her lower lip.

Izzie opened her eyes and looked back at the redhead. "I cut an LVAD wire and I got a second chance. I had cancer and I should probably be dead. Actually, I did die for a while before they brought me back for a third chance," she explained. "And I blew it. So, I'm just gonna go away and try to figure out what my purpose on this earth is supposed to be. I just… have to disappear until I pull myself back together."

"I uhh, I hope you don't mean disappear as in vanishing into thin air," she unsuccessfully joked. Izzie simply stared at her unamused. April cleared her throat and pointed at herself. "Do you remember me? April Kepner? I almost transferred into Seattle Grace during our intern year. You sort of gave me a tour."

She slowly nodded her head. "I do. Well, you kind of got your wish now."

"I was wondering if this one doctor who I'm sure you know still works at the hospital. I haven't seen him anywhere. George? I remember him being really sweet and a little awkward."

"George… is dead," Izzie unhappily answered, sadly smiling at April. "He died throwing himself in front of a bus to save another person. It happened just a few months ago."

April frowned. "Oh." She didn't know George O'Malley very well, but she felt terrible for bringing up his name. Based on Izzie's reaction and the fact that she was fighting back tears, she figured they were good friends. "He… he was a nice person during the few times I interacted with him."

"Your friend took his cubby. That's why I was upset," she admitted. "I didn't mean to be so aggressive. Maybe if I had just flat out said why nobody used it-"

"It's okay. I understand."

Izzie drank her last shot of tequila before she pushed herself up from her seat. "Anyway, good luck. A word of advice, don't get distracted even if it's for one second. It could easily bite you in the ass."

April looked back at Izzie as she walked past her and left the bar. She let her advice sink in for a moment before she returned to her table with empty mugs and a pitcher of beer. And she was determined not to be _that_ person.

* * *

**It's easy to guess what's coming up next ;)**


	3. Fired

**Thanks for the reviews and your patience! I will try to update this a lot sooner from now on. Hopefully, this gave others time to catch up by reading Better Together and as always, feedback is much appreciated :)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_"You're fired."_

Richard Webber's mouth appeared to be moving in slow motion after April had just figured out how a patient numerous doctors attempted to save had died on their watch. The merger was only a little over a week old and she managed to screw up majorly. It all felt surreal. This was the first time she truly felt like she failed and what a horrible time for it to happen.

It was _her_ fault.

Because she forgot to check Cathy Becker's airway for possible soot. She had survived a hotel fire, but one small distraction killed her. First, she had trouble breathing caused by smoke inhalation. Then, her organs failed.

And it was all because April missed a simple step, one she could do in her sleep. Checking the airway was always first in an exam. She never thought she could be so careless on the job. She had taken a mother away from a young boy due to her negligence. Thinking about it while she emptied her cubby in the locker room made her feel sick. What was going to happen to her career now?

Nobody was going to hire somebody who killed a patient because she forgot her ABC's, she thought. April also worried whether or not she would be sued for her medical negligence. She could only assume her career as a doctor would be over if that were the case.

There was also Jackson to think about. She hadn't really thought about him after Webber fired her, but he didn't exactly search for her either. If she needed support from anybody, it was her fiancé. However, upon leaving the locker room with her belongings, she overheard him and the other residents talking about her mistake.

"It's like Med School 101, right?" he sneered, referring to checking the airway first.

Hearing him say that burned. April frowned as the others joined in on the teasing, but fortunately, Reed intervened.

"It was one second!" she snapped. "She got distracted for one second and she made a mistake."

"That we all nearly got fired for," Charles noted.

Jackson nodded. "Nose Dive's got a point."

"Thank you… _what_?"

"We nearly got fired for trying to fix what she screwed up in the first place," Alex grumbled.

"Yeah, 'cause that's our job," Cristina defensively said before pointing out her coworkers' flaws. "What you didn't make any mistakes today? You've been distracted the entire week. And who knows what you screwed up? But our patients didn't die and that's why we didn't get caught. It could've happened to any of us."

April was caught off-guard by Cristina's comments. She had been a thousand percent positive the Seattle Grace doctor hated her. They hadn't interacted much, but she once greeted the Asian woman with her perky demeanor and received a scowl in return. Maybe she had a heart after all. The redhead took a deep breath and decided she couldn't hide anymore. She was going to have to endure the walk of shame eventually. Plus, she was exhausted, emotionally drained and all she wanted to do was crawl under her blanket and cry.

Jackson spotted her slowly walking down the hallway towards their direction. For the first time in their relationship, he wasn't quite sure how to react. He wanted to comfort her, but knowing how insecure April could be at times, she wouldn't want to talk in front of everyone.

"Here she comes," he murmured.

Quietly passing by, April barely made eye contact with Jackson – or anybody for that matter – on her way to the elevator. She was grateful that her best friend and Cristina defended her, but the man whom she expected to stand up for her immediately had done the opposite. In a way, she felt betrayed by him.

"April," Reed sullenly called out as she passed through a set of swinging doors. After April failed to respond, she spun around on her heel and glared at Jackson. "That's your fiancée, you idiot! Why aren't you running after her? She needs you."

Jackson pursed his lips in annoyance when Charles nudged his shoulder. "What am I supposed to say? You and I both know she's not going to talk to me right now. She just got fired. Although, we did drive here together, so now I don't have a ride home," he muttered, drawing an eye roll from his friend. "I'll see her later. We'll talk then."

Alex shook his head as he scribbled notes on a chart. "Make sure she doesn't disappear on you," he scoffed. Izzie had left him after she was fired from the hospital and her whereabouts were unknown.

Reed softly groaned, walking away from the group. "You guys are unbelievable."

"So you and Kepner are getting married?" Lexie skeptically asked Jackson, a muffled chuckle escaping her mouth. "I'm sorry, but when I was reading her notebook I seriously thought the… _stuff_ she wrote about you were fantasies made up in her head. You two just seem so different. I'm having trouble seeing it."

It wasn't the first time somebody told him that, but regardless, it was annoying. The pretty boy knew what they were all thinking. It had nothing to do with him. It had everything to do with April. To many acquaintances' eyes, she was annoying, neurotic and typically too perky for their taste. Some of his own relatives still hadn't warmed up to her.

The second time he had brought her home to Boston, he introduced her to a few cousins who bragged about a woman from his undergraduate days at Harvard whom they all believed he was going to marry. And his fiancée had been nervous, so she rambled about topics they had zero interest in. It still took time for new people to accept her awkwardness and he hated it when people assumed he deserved better without knowing anything about her.

Jackson shoved his hands inside of his pockets, furrowing his eyebrows at Lexie as he walked past her. "She's pretty amazing, actually," he irritably replied.

* * *

Jackson arrived at his apartment after hitching a ride with Charles and Reed. It was almost midnight and he wondered if April had already fallen asleep or she chose to wait for him. Standing outside of their front door, he could hear the faint sound of the vacuum roaring, which confused him because she had an organized cleaning schedule and vacuuming definitely didn't happen at that hour of the day. He unlocked the door and opened it to find her still dressed in her street clothes while she cleaned the living room.

Her hair was up in a messy bun and it appeared she had been cleaning – and crying – since she arrived home, clearly attempting to distract herself from thinking about the fact that she just lost her job. She hadn't noticed him standing in the doorway while she vacuumed underneath the coffee table.

"April," he called out, but the vacuum overpowered his voice. Jackson closed the door and approached April, turning off the vacuum for her. He gently squeezed her shoulders as she gazed down at the floor. "Why are you cleaning? It's late. It's been a long and stressful night, so let's go to bed."

"I-I can't," she timidly responded, her voice slightly cracking. "I still have to clean the bathroom and do the laundry and- and there's so much left to do, so I can't go to bed yet."

He sighed, leaning forward and kissing her forehead. April was in denial, but he couldn't blame her. "I understand you're upset and frustrated, but exhausting yourself even more isn't going to help you feel better. You need some sleep."

"I don't want to sleep!" she retorted, angrily stepping away from him. "I don't want to go to sleep knowing I have nothing to wake up for. I was fired tonight, Jackson, and instead of trying to support me you ridiculed me just like the others! You think I'm stupid just like they do."

"You're not stupid, April. Listen, I know you're a better doctor than what you showed today, but how could you let this happen? You normally don't let the smallest distractions rattle you."

"Did you not notice how chaotic it was in the ER tonight? People burned from head to toe, a man with an axe lodged into his chest, doctors butting heads with each other – it was a madhouse in there!" April turned away from her fiancé as the tears flowed out of her eyes. She covered her mouth, choking back a sob. "I-I I've never been fired from anything. I'm not a person who fails. I'm not used to failing like this."

Jackson instantly felt guilty because he had no idea what it was like to fail either, so he wasn't quite sure how to give her an optimistic answer. Truthfully, being fired was a big freaking deal and something Averys frowned upon. This would only provide his haughty relatives ammunition to convince themselves that April was the wrong woman for him.

"You'll bounce back from this, okay? This isn't the end of the world," he soothingly said, wrapping his arms around her waist as he kissed her cheek. Nuzzling his nose against her neck, he firmly held her in his arms. "Despite what happened tonight, you are still the wonderful woman I've been in love with since we were interns."

She frowned, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand. "I don't even know if I can tell my parents. They're going to be so disappointed in me. It took me forever to finally stand out from my sisters, but this puts me back at square one."

"How about you don't tell them yet? It's possible you'll find another job soon," he suggested. "Seattle Pres isn't too bad. A little farther than where we live, but they're an option. Maybe even Harborview Medical or University of Washington. Those are closer."

"Yeah, but… they don't compare to Seattle Grace _or_ Mercy West," April glumly noted. "I had the chance to learn under the best neurosurgeon in the country and I blew it. And do you honestly think another program will want me after I killed someone because I forgot to check their airway?"

Jackson tenderly planted kisses on her neck. "You're not a bad doctor. You just made a bad mistake," he assured her as his hand slowly slipped underneath her shirt. "When they see your records and recommendations they'll know you're worth hiring."

She softly smiled until his hand traveled up north, perhaps a little _too_ north. "Jackson!" Pulling away from him, she stared at her fiancé appalled. "Were you seriously trying to distract me with sex? I just experienced the worst night of life and you're trying to get laid? What's wrong with you?!"

He pursed his lips in frustration as she stormed off to their bedroom, slightly wincing after she slammed the door. "Way to go, Avery," he mumbled to himself.

It had been over a year since they last had a major fight, but two silly blunders led to one pissed off fiancée. He considered himself lucky if she didn't lock the door on him and he wasn't forced to sleep on the couch that night.

* * *

The following morning, Jackson and April's daily routine of getting ready for work together had changed. The latter remained curled up in a ball underneath the covers. He wished he could blow off work that day and spend it with his fiancée. It had been a while since they were able to enjoy a date or relax in their apartment and watch a movie together. The pre and post-merger forced them to focus on keeping their jobs over everything else. He didn't want her to be alone, so he turned to a reliable friend for help.

He heard a knock on the front door and answered it knowing it was Trevor. "Hey, thanks for coming," the pretty boy greeted his friend. "Try not to mention last night to her. I've never seen her so down in the morning. I'm not sure what you can do to make her feel better, but… just do something, alright?"

Trevor held up a box of Top Pot doughnuts and opened it. "You think the ones with sprinkles will make her smile?" he sheepishly replied. "And besides being a delicious, yet unhealthy breakfast, doughnuts act as comfort food as well."

"Anything will do right now," Jackson insisted, grabbing a maple bar for himself. He took a large bite out of his doughnut as he led his former roommate into the bedroom. "April, Trev's here. And he brought doughnuts."

Both men watched April lazily wave her arm before she pulled the blanket over her head. Trevor tapped his fingers against the box, leaning close to Jackson's ear. "This may be a little harder than I initially thought," he whispered.

Jackson finished his doughnut, wiping his fingers against his jeans before climbing onto the bed. Lying on his side, he lifted the blanket from April's face and gently stroked her cheek with his thumb. "C'mon, try to get out of bed today, okay? Nobody accomplishes anything lying around doing nothing," he reminded her and kissed her lips. "I have to go now. I'll try to come home as soon as possible after work."

She slowly nodded her head and sadly smiled at him. "I love you. I'm sorry I freaked out on you last night," the redhead murmured.

"No, I deserved it. You were having a rough night and I tried to put my needs ahead of yours. It was pretty ridiculous of me. I love you too. I'll see you tonight." He softly kissed her lips once more and slid off of the bed. As he headed out the door, he patted Trevor's back. "Later, man."

Trevor heard the front door open and close, then he approached the bed. He set the box of doughnuts on the nearby desk and swiftly pulled the blanket away from April. "Rise and shine, sleepyhead," he cheerfully said, picking her petite body up from the bed and holding her over his shoulder.

"Trev, put me down! What are you doing?" she retorted, trying to squirm her way out of his grip.

"Helping you get ready to come to the mall with me," he nonchalantly replied and walked to her closet. "It's supposed to be raining all day today, which isn't a surprise when you live in Seattle. Do you want me to choose your outfit as well?"

April slapped Trevor's back and groaned. "It's only 7:30 in the morning. The mall's not open until nine!"

Her friend turned around, walking back to the bed. "You're right. Whoops," he chuckled and tossed her back onto the bed. He laughed at her tangled hair covering most of her face as she scowled at him and sat up on the mattress. "Want a doughnut?"

She blew her hair away from her face. "Fine," she sighed, taking a pink doughnut with rainbow sprinkles on it after Trevor set the box in front of her. "This bites."

"Yeah, I know the feeling," he dejectedly agreed, stuffing his mouth with a chocolate doughnut. "I've been unemployed for about a month now. I thought it was over for me because most programs have all of their spots filled, but things may be looking up for me now."

"Oh?" she curiously responded. "Did you find another hospital to work for?"

"Not quite, though I've heard back from some," he replied with a mouthful of doughnut. "I have an interview with U-Dub on Wednesday, but I'm also looking at Portland General and a colleague of mine from UCLA may be able to pull some strings-"

"Wait. You're considering leaving Seattle?" April inquired, slightly frowning. "I mean, I understand narrowing down your choices to local hospitals is a gamble, but… do you _want_ to leave?"

Trevor swallowed before he responded, "I love Seattle. I have great friends here, but if I can't continue my residency here, then I have to ensure I have options elsewhere. It's probably way too soon to give you advice about this, but you should consider doing the same. Sometimes you have to put yourself first, especially under these circumstances."

Slowly chewing her food, April nodded her head as she let his opinion sink in. He was right, though. What if the odds of finding another job in Seattle weren't in her favor? She doubted every single hospital in the nation would reject her, but there was also Jackson to consider. They weren't simply dating. They were _engaged_. How would her fiancé feel about her moving away?

Her situation was more complicated than Trevor's, but she couldn't sit around watching Jackson's career flourish while hers took a backseat to his. She had her own ambitions and it was possible she wouldn't be able to fulfill them in Seattle anymore.

* * *

For Jackson, Charles and Reed, working at Seattle Grace Mercy West felt a little more empty without April and Trevor. They were a tight knit fivesome and two of them unfortunately fell victim to the merger for different reasons. And having to move into _their_ hospital had its disadvantages. Their old meeting place on the rooftop at the former Mercy West hospital couldn't be replicated because Seattle Grace's roofs were heavily restricted and the only available one was where the helipad was located.

They discovered the tunnels underneath the hospital during lunch, but were quickly shooed away by their Seattle Grace counterparts who already occupied them. It sucked being the outsiders. They were forced to work harder to impress the attendings and be chosen first for surgeries, which wasn't an easy task. Each attending had their clear favorites by now and Seattle Grace's surgeons outnumbered Mercy West's.

Jackson was discouraged when he was assigned to the Denny Duquette Memorial Clinic for the rest of his shift. Being a surgical resident, he felt this was a downgrade from the emergency room. There wasn't going to be much cutting while he was there, but he was still a doctor and saving people's lives without a scalpel was a part of the job. On the bright side, he probably wouldn't be fighting for patients like in the surgical wing. His brief optimism took a dip when he arrived at the clinic to find Cristina there too.

The Asian doctor had been stealing patients from him since the beginning of the merger. He was a competitive person and clearly, so was she. And she was looking into the same specialty – the Avery specialty – cardiothoracic surgery.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in the hospital snaking your way into other residents' cases?" he sneered after approaching her at the nurses' station.

"Shouldn't you be prepping for your photo shoot, Pretty Boy?" Cristina bluntly answered, a smirk forming on her face as she wrote notes on a chart. She set her pen down and glanced up at Jackson. "And I don't snake my way into every case. Just the cardio ones."

He laughed to himself and rolled his eyes. "Well, start getting used to not being on every cardio case that intrigues you because I'm not letting you take them from me easily," he confidently said. "You're not the only person who wants in on cardio."

She pointed at herself. "Listen, Avery. Just because you're new here it doesn't mean I'll be more lenient towards you or any of your Mercy West friends. People around here know that cardio is mine. You're staring at a future cardio goddess. What is it about you that makes you think you can become a better cardiothoracic surgeon than me?"

_I'm Harper Avery's grandson, duh._

As much as he wanted to gloat to Cristina about his famous last name, Jackson would feel like a hypocrite because he hated it when others made a big deal about being an Avery. However, his coworker had a certain arrogance that made him eager to spill the beans to shut her up, but he decided not to. If he wanted to prove to her that he had the potential to become a better surgeon than her, he was going to play fair.

"Sounds like nobody's had the balls to fight you for cardio," he quipped. "Maybe I'm the right person to finally give you a run for your money."

"I hope you know that batting your eyelashes and tackling morons in the ER won't get you far, especially in cardio," Cristina scoffed before walking away from him to tend to a patient.

Jackson shook his head and sighed, watching Cristina from afar. Nobody had really tried to contend with him at Mercy West for cardio cases, but he also hadn't been cutthroat about it if he wasn't chosen for a surgery. He knew his surgery hours couldn't heavily rely on one specialty, but after meeting Yang, he wanted nothing more than to take every future case she was determined to have for himself.

* * *

"So, this is what you do all day when you're bored?" April asked amusingly as she and Trevor sat beside each other on a bench and watched random people pass by. At first, the idea of people watching seemed creepy and pointless, but she eventually found it relaxing and entertaining at the same time. "How long are we supposed to be doing this?"

"Until you feel ready to stand up and find something better to do," he answered, then he quickly shrugged. "Or when your stomach grumbles and you want to buy an unsalted pretzel at the food court, whichever comes first."

She softly chuckled, looking down at her empty frozen yogurt cup. "Well, I don't think we'll be making a trip to the food court anytime soon. You know, I didn't think a trip to the mall would bring my mood up, but it surprisingly has."

He smiled at his friend. "What'd I tell you? The mall always turns people's frowns upside down."

"Specifically sales," she chirped, nodding her head at the various shopping bags sitting by her feet. "My wardrobe needed an upgrade. I don't think I've been able to buy new clothes since August. That's how busy we've been – well, _were_."

"Hey, hey, hey. What's the unofficial rule while we're at the mall?" Trevor playfully scolded her. "No moping about losing your job or else…"

"…I have to try on lingerie at Victoria's Secret and twirl in circles in front of their workers, while you record it on your phone," April unenthusiastically finished the sentence, adding an eye roll. "Would you really force me to humiliate myself like that?"

Trevor grinned at her, placing his hand against his chest. "Am I gay?"

The redhead lightly shoved him and laughed. "You're supposed to be my friend." She gathered her belongings and stood up. "Alright, how about we start walking again? There are a few more stores I haven't visited yet."

"Here, I'll take your bags. Consider me your stand-in boyfriend for the day," he jokingly offered, taking all of April's shopping bags and carrying them for her.

"Thanks, Trev. You're such a pal," she happily replied.

Walking side by side through the mall, April suddenly stopped in front of a window. Trevor continued to walk until he realized his friend was no longer beside him. He turned around, immediately sighing when he noticed her standing in front of a bridal store. She was staring at the wedding gown on display, fidgeting with the engagement ring around her finger.

She thought after a year of being engaged, she and Jackson would be married. In the beginning of their engagement, she didn't mind waiting because they hadn't been dating for very long. Now, she felt ready to marry him, but he always seemed reluctant to go forward with the planning. He insisted it should be more about what she wanted, though she preferred they plan their wedding together.

"I don't think I'll ever have the chance to wear one of those," she murmured.

"What are you talking about? You and Jackson will finally get married one day," Trevor assured her and he pointed at the wedding gown. "And besides, that dress is definitely not your style. It's too fluffy. You don't want to drown in your dress on your wedding day."

"He never wants to talk about it," she complained. "When I try to bring it up Jackson changes the subject or pretends he wasn't listening. I'm starting to think he's getting cold feet about marriage."

The brunette man beside her shook his head. "I don't think so. You two have been happy for a long time and the guy totally worships the ground you walk on. He loves you. The way he comforted you this morning shows how deeply he cares for you," he implied. "But if you really want him to talk about wedding planning, maybe you should go out of your way and do something out of the usual for him."

April's eyes widened. "Page 158 of _The Joy of Sex_?" she gasped.

Trevor eyed her inquisitively and slowly shook his head. "No, I was thinking along the lines of food. Your fiancé eats like a horse, so cook him something you normally don't have time to make," he suggested. "A little sucking up doesn't hurt."

"Hmm… that could work," she concurred and grinned. "Okay, enough shopping at the mall. We need to go to the grocery store instead."

* * *

It was half past eight in the evening when Jackson arrived home. He immediately smelled a pleasant aroma coming from the kitchen, grinning from ear to ear at the sight of April cooking at the stove. She wore her pink and white plaid apron over her clothes, softly humming to herself while she cooked.

"Something smells good," he eagerly stated, standing behind his fiancée and kissing her cheek. "Perfect timing too. I'm starving. You also seem to be in a brighter mood. How was your day?"

"It was nice, actually," April answered, turning around to face Jackson with a smile on her face. "Trevor and I went shopping and my side of the closet just became more full."

Jackson placed his hands on her hips. "That's good to know," he murmured, leaning forward and kissing her lips. "Buy anything _sexy_?"

"Maybe," she teased, gently pushing him towards the dining table and forcing him to sit down. She returned to the stove to check on their dinner. "Instead of our typical Chinese takeout, I decided to take matters into my own hands and cook us dinner since I never used to have the time to. How does rib eye steak, baked potatoes with the works, steamed veggies and red wine sound?"

"And will you be on the dessert menu?" he mischievously asked, making her laugh.

"It's possible," she replied over her shoulder. April prepared their plates and brought them to the table. She poured wine into two glasses before she took her seat beside Jackson. "This is nice, right? Being able to cook you a meal for once?"

He was already cutting up his steak and shoving pieces into his mouth. "And as always, you're a damn fine cook," the pretty boy gleefully mumbled and kissed her lips again. "I'd probably die from starvation without you."

"Just one of the many things I'm good for," she nervously said, sipping some wine before she jumped straight to the point. "I want to get married next summer. Maybe July. It doesn't matter where, but I think it's time we finally do it."

"Uhh, sure. July is cool with me," he half-heartedly responded and continued to eat his food. "I hope you know this rib eye is perfect. You know just how I love my steak cooked."

April closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. "Jackson, you're doing it again." She rested her elbows on top of the table and buried her face into her hands. "If you don't want to get married, then just admit it now."

Jackson set his utensils down and moved his fiancée's hands away from her face. "Of course I want to get married, but... don't you want to find another job and feel settled with that first?" He felt guilty for dodging the wedding topic again, but he was trying to think realistically. "Let's think of it this way – July is far away enough. By then, we can hope you'll be working at another hospital."

"Even if it means I'd have to move out of Seattle?"

"Who said anything about moving? You will find a new job _here_. No moving involved," he guaranteed her, planting a kiss on her forehead. "Consider me biased, but you're too good of a doctor to be ignored. All of the other hospitals in the area would be idiotic to pass you up."

April forced herself to smile, nodding her head as she poked at her dinner. As shallow as it seemed, she thought it might be easier to find a hospital who wanted her if she was already an Avery. The name alone caught people's attention, which surprisingly hasn't been the case at Seattle Grace Mercy West. While Jackson was confident she would be hired sooner than later, she felt the opposite because unlike her, he didn't kill a patient and get fired for it.


	4. 26 Hours

**Thank you for the reviews! Fair warning, things will start to get a little bumpy for April and Jackson ;)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Jackson stepped out of the elevator and made his way to the surgical skills lab. He had received a page from Shepherd, along with all of the other residents, to report to the second floor. Word quickly began to spread about an inoperable tumor attached to a spinal cord, yet the neurosurgeon appeared to have something up his sleeve. He definitely wanted in on the very rare and once in a lifetime surgery.

On his way to the lab, he met up with Reed in the hallway. "Did you hear about the tumor?"

"I heard the only way to remove the tumor is to cut the cord," she replied and covered her hand as she yawned. "The other night, I spent it in the OR sewing up a hang glider's intestines back together, but this surgery sounds ten times better than that, so sleep can wait. The beds here aren't the most comfortable anyway."

"So, you haven't been home in the last two days?"

"Nope. Charles has the stomach flu. I'm better off here than catching his germs over there," Reed answered, a smile forming on her face. "Besides, we never experienced complex tumors like this one at Mercy West. Assuming Shepherd successfully removes the tumor, this is the type of surgery you can brag about for the rest of your life."

"_Assuming_ you get to be in it," Jackson reminded his friend and pointed at himself. "This surgery's mine."

Cristina forced her way in between the two Mercy West doctors, walking a couple of feet ahead of them. "In your dreams, Pretty Boy. You don't stand a chance," she scoffed.

He rolled his eyes as he smirked at her. "I thought you only cared for cardio cases. This is neurosurgery, in case you haven't noticed."

"Inoperable tumor. Enough said," she nonchalantly said. "And it's for hardcore surgeons."

Jackson guffawed at Cristina's comment. She found pleasure in talking down to him, though he hardly let it faze him. He was an Avery. Arrogance was one of the many characteristics his relatives maintained, so he was used to that treatment. "I'm hardcore myself – and pretty badass. I attended Harvard for both my undergraduate and medical school education."

"I have a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Berkeley and I finished at the top of my class at Stanford," the Asian woman gloated, smugly smiling back at him. "Harvard is for schmucks like you."

"Keep talking, Yang. I'll prove you wrong sooner or later," he playfully retorted.

"More like never," she sneered, entering the skills lab room. Cristina was about to sit down before changed her mind and offered the stool to Jackson. "Here, you can take my seat. Hardcore people stand because you know, that's how we work in the OR."

Reed snickered while she took a seat in front of Jackson, who sat down afterwards. "She's such a bitch," she whispered at him.

He briefly glanced back at Cristina standing in the back of the room before he faced his coworker. "More like overly arrogant and confident. Did I mention arrogant?" the pretty boy quipped, eliciting a laugh from Reed. "And for the record, Harvard is above Stanford in the rankings."

"Speaking of arrogant," she teasingly replied. "No wonder you can tolerate Yang's remarks. If you weren't with April, I'd think you found your soulmate. The only difference is you don't come off as one of Satan's minions like she does."

"I heard that, Pixie," Cristina intruded, staring Reed down from her spot.

Derek entered the skills lab to explain how he was going to decide which lucky resident would be scrubbing in with him for the surgery. The objective sounded fairly simple – using the microscope, each doctor would have a chance to tap a one dollar bill with a red pen without hitting the plastic cup. Whoever was closest to George Washington's nose would win the challenge.

Cristina had taken a seat in the front of the room to observe and heckle the residents who failed to even get the pen inside of the cup. She appeared confident, perhaps too confident. As much as she hoped she could give Jackson crap for screwing up, the pretty boy had successfully completed the task. At least she managed to tease Reed when she missed her mark.

Jackson partially held his breath when it was the arrogant surgeon's turn at the microscope. Because he had been the only doctor to pass the test, he wanted the surgery badly and being a competitive person himself, he refused to lose it to Yang. Her confidence was sometimes over the top, so watching her fail would be an entertaining sight to see.

The lab was deafly quiet when Cristina stepped up to the plate. She was the last person to attempt the task. Of course she wanted to wait until everybody else failed, so they could witness her "greatness". However, that wasn't the case. To almost everyone's surprise, the Asian doctor smacked her pen into the top of the cup.

Residents gasped and snickered as she froze in disbelief. Even Jackson had been a little shocked that she hit the cup before putting the pen inside, but he hardly had any sympathy for her – because he won the challenge.

"Dr. Avery, you'll be scrubbing in," the neurosurgeon announced and left the room.

As the other doctors filed out of the lab, Jackson slowly approached Cristina, who remained standing behind the microscope. He smugly grinned at her as headed towards the exit. "You should probably just stick to cardio," he sneered, drawing a blank stare from her.

He was satisfied with having the last laugh.

* * *

"Wow, that's great!" April cheerfully replied while she spoke with her fiancé on the phone. She was in the middle of eating breakfast in their quiet apartment when Jackson called to inform her of Shepherd's surgery. "So, I'm assuming you'll be in the OR for a long time then?"

_"Most likely. I'm not sure how many hours this one will take. It's a really complicated surgery," he answered, standing outside of OR 1. He wanted to hear her voice prior to scrubbing in and to brag a bit about the procedure. "Don't wait up for me if it's late, alright? I'll be home whenever I get out of here."_

"Oh, no problem. Umm… what about dinner? Should I cook something up for you and leave it in the fridge for later?"

_"I'll just buy dinner on the way home. I'm sure something will be open if it's 1 AM or even 4 AM," he insisted, but the thought of April's home cooking made him almost salivate. "What are your plans for today?"_

She stood up from the dining table after finishing her breakfast, carrying her empty plate to the sink. "Trevor's coming over soon. We'll go out and have lunch, maybe do some job hunting. That's about it. Just another woeful day for me."

_Jackson sighed. Although, April had been trying to stay optimistic, he knew her patience was wearing thin. It had been almost two weeks since she was fired, but she was itching to be back in an OR again. "I'm telling you, somebody will want you. It's only a matter of time," he assured her. "Have you gotten any responses from the hospital's you e-mailed?"_

"No, not yet," she glumly answered. "My best bets are all of the spaces are filled, so they decided not to bother responding. I may have to start looking for a part-time job at McDonald's… or the morgue. I'm not sure which is worse."

_"You won't end up working in the morgue. You're a surgeon. That's what you were born to become," he confidently reminded her. "Anyway, I should go scrub in. We're gonna start the surgery soon."_

"Good luck. And uhh… have fun," she murmured, hanging up her cell phone after he said his goodbyes.

April spent the next half hour cleaning the apartment. It was one of the few activities she did to keep herself from going insane. Her apartment was always too quiet for her taste. She missed the sounds of pagers beeping, doctors and nurses shuffling back and forth through the hallways, the unpleasant smell of burning flesh in the operating room.

And she kept her firing a secret from her parents and sisters hoping another job would come along before she would be forced to tell them she was unemployed. Jackson had promised her he wouldn't mention anything to his family either. He was well aware that certain family members would turn it into a bigger deal than it had to be. They figured what they didn't know wouldn't hurt anybody.

She heard a knock on the door just as she finished vacuuming the living room and answered the door for Trevor. He appeared to be in a good mood, smiling brightly at his friend while he entered the apartment. "Sounds like good news is on the horizon," the redhead greeted him.

"Somewhat," he replied, sitting down on the couch with her. "I have another interview with U-Dub on Monday, so the chances of getting hired just went up for me. I'm still going up against other applicants, but I feel pretty confident right now."

"That's awesome," April congratulated Trevor and forced herself to smile. While she was happy for her friend, it also meant she would officially become a loner if he started working again and she remained unemployed. She started to regret not making more close friends outside of their inner circle at Mercy West. "I really hope you get the job. You deserve it."

He opened his backpack, removing a piece of paper from inside. "And I pulled some strings with Dr. Nichols. He's the Chief of Surgery at U-Dub," the brunette man added and waved the paper in front of her. "This is an application to the program. There are exactly two spots open, so maybe there's a chance you and I could work there together. I offered my own little recommendation for you."

She gasped, grabbing the application from Trevor with a grin on her face. "You truly are a savior!" April kissed his cheek and hugged him tightly. "I know there aren't any guarantees, but thank you for helping me out."

"You're welcome. Don't put off this application, okay? I'm not the only doctor applying for the limited spaces there," he advised, then he chuckled. "But knowing you, you'll be on top of this in five seconds."

Staring at the piece of paper in her hands, she let out a sigh of relief. "This really does make me feel better, Trev. I mean, Jackson's busy assisting on a spinal cord tumor, which is so unbelievable that I'm jealous of him." She glanced up at her friend. "That could've been me in that surgery. Is it wrong to think he shouldn't brag about every surgery he's a part of, while I'm getting nothing?"

"Well, it's important to stay supportive, but I can see how it could feel like he's rubbing his job in your face." He gently patted her thigh and smiled. "Jackson loves you and he knows you're currently in a difficult situation. And he's also usually sensitive to your feelings. I guess if you really don't want him to talk about work, then try to distract him with something else. Use sex if you have to."

"Oh, gosh," she bashfully muttered, partially covering her face with the application and laughing. "I've lost count of how many times I've done that actually, but it works every time. It's easy to please him."

* * *

Shepherd's spinal cord tumor procedure resulted in ten hours of zero cutting. The neurosurgeon had thoroughly considered every possible scenario in his head without ever touching the tumor itself and Webber, who had been against the surgery in the first place, interrupted them and forced Derek to close up the patient.

Ten hours of nothing, yet Jackson still felt it was a surgery he would have been stupid to pass up. He was starving and exhausted, almost too tired to drive himself home. Fortunately, he managed to make the trip across town without falling asleep at the wheel. It was almost 11 PM when he arrived home, though his body felt like it was much later than that. He spotted April sitting on the couch and lazily approached her.

"Hey," he softly greeted her, dropping his bag onto the floor and sitting beside his fiancée. Jackson yawned as he set his feet on the coffee table and stretched his arms over his head. Tilting his head against the back of the couch, he stared at the TV, which was on the local news. "Did you leave me any dinner?"

April smirked at him. "You told me you were going to buy food on the way home because you weren't sure what time you'd be back, remember?"

"Right. I forgot," he disappointedly responded. "I stood in the OR for ten hours listening to Shepherd mumble to himself and do nothing else. I understand that he doesn't want to paralyze his guy, but it was ridiculous. And Lexie wore a freaking diaper in hopes I'd give up my place to go use the restroom. I held my own, though."

April picked up Jackson's right hand and gently massaged it. "Your hands must be sore then."

"Not so much considering I just stood around doing nothing."

"Umm… I applied to U-Dub. Trevor put in a good word for me with the Chief," she proudly stated. "Here's to hoping I score an interview after I send it in."

"That's cool. I'm gonna take a quick shower and go to bed. I have a feeling I'll be called into the hospital early tomorrow morning. I need all of the sleep I can get." He pushed himself up from the couch, kissing her forehead before walking away. "Goodnight, babe."

April waited until she could hear the faint sound of the shower running in their bathroom before she decided to climb into bed. Jackson hadn't been in the mood for any chit chat after a long day. However, she couldn't help but feel slighted by how passive he acted towards her. It wasn't the first time he had done it to her since she was fired. She tried not to take it too personally because being a surgeon sucked the life out of people after all.

But now, she was beginning to feel as if they were living in separate worlds.

* * *

As expected, Jackson had been paged to report to the hospital at 6 AM. Shepherd had devised a plan overnight to remove the tumor and regardless of what the Chief had told him, they were going to continue on with the surgery. It was stealthy and badass in the pretty boy's mind. He felt guilty about sneaking out of his apartment without waking up April, but he figured she wouldn't have wanted to be woken up so early for nothing.

She, on the other hand, had been fully awake when he left their home, only pretending to be asleep when her fiancé lightly kissed her cheek goodbye. It was going to be another full day without seeing him, she thought. Staying cooped up in their apartment all day wasn't an option for her, so she met up with Reed at Seattle Grace Mercy West for lunch. It had been three days since she last saw her best friend, who had been crashing in on-call rooms while Charles continued to battle the stomach flu. Trevor was always a great listener, but she desperately needed to visit with her only close girlfriend.

"April, you can take off those sunglasses. Nobody cares you're here," Reed instructed in amusement. Her redheaded friend was embarrassed to be seen in the hospital that fired her and arrived at the cafeteria trying to appear incognito. They were seated at a table in the farthest corner where nobody would notice them. "Unless you're trying to cover some nasty pink eye, there's no reason for you to be wearing them."

Slowly removing her sunglasses from her face, April ducked her head like the awkward new kid at school who didn't have any friends. "Are you sure nobody will notice me?" she quietly asked, scanning the cafeteria for any familiar faces. "I just feel so strange being here."

"That's because you're making it uncomfortable for yourself. Stop trying to be invisible."

"I can't help it. The last time I stepped a foot inside of this hospital, I killed a patient," she dejectedly replied and poked at her salad. "I'm sorry, but it's not a situation I can easily get over."

"I know. At least try to act happy to see me," Reed suggested with a forced grin. "We haven't seen each other in days because I've been staying here, so we have some serious catching up to do, okay? Tell me what you've been up to."

"I'm applying for a residency spot at U-Dub. Trevor and I could both end up there. Dr. Martin was quick to send me a letter of recommendation and I'm waiting for ones from Dr. Phillips and Dr. Winston," April chirped. She suddenly scrunched her nose. "Should I ask Swanson for a recommendation?"

Her friend snickered with a mouthful of food. "Are you sure _she_ would write it herself?" she quipped, referring to the cardiothoracic surgeon's knack for publishing articles she hadn't written during her residency. "The doctors you asked are better than that bitch face. Don't bother asking Swanson."

"So, you haven't been home to see Charles? Is he okay with that?"

"He's busy puking his guts out, but we've exchanged texts, so I know he's still alive. It's not like being here instead of home is working to my advantage. I've been stuck with that Karev guy and he's such a douche," Reed complained and rolled her eyes. She and Alex had been clashing since the day before. "His wife is still recovering from cancer, but he refuses to see her while she's receiving treatment because she left him. I finally managed to knock sense into him this morning. That doesn't change the fact that he's still a douche. At least I have Shepherd's other patients to myself now."

"How's that surgery doing?" April questioned curiously. "Have you seen Jackson? Does he look alright?"

"I haven't see him nor have I had the chance to view the surgery from the gallery. Actually, without Karev there's a lot more work to be done, so I don't have the time to sneak away for a few minutes."

She frowned at her best friend. "I miss him. Is that weird to say?"

Reed set her fork down and sighed. "No. Since we all first met, we were used to seeing each other every day at the hospital. Most of the time, we arrived and left together. I can see how it's different for you two," she insisted, softly smiling at April. "I'm sure he misses you too. It's gotta be hard not seeing each other throughout the day. Hell, I find myself missing Charles. I haven't seen him in _three_ days. He's actually quite the trooper for thinking this is okay."

"It just… sucks. When he's home we don't really talk about anything. Our wedding, work…" April rubbed her cheeks and groaned. "It's frustrating. What if he- maybe we're losing that spark, you know? Over two years of dating is a lot for a guy like him. I think I'm boring him."

"No, you're not. It's not you, I promise."

"Then, why does it feel like it _is_ me?" she miserably asked. "I cook for him, the sex isn't awful… I do everything for him, but something's not right. When he's sitting next to me it doesn't feel like he's there completely and this all started after I got fired. Like I'm below his standards or whatever."

"April, stop talking like that. You're not going to feel any better if you continue this negative attitude." Reed figured no matter what advice she gave, her best friend was always going to think about the worst case scenario. Sometimes it was like talking to a brick wall. "I think you and Jackson need to sit down and have a serious conversation. Do it when he's not working, completely awake and fully attentive. Maybe you should wear skimpy underwear. That'll totally get his attention for sure."

April rolled her eyes. While she occasionally seduced her fiancé with the few pieces of sexy clothing in her drawer, trying to catch his attention through sex wasn't the answer. "If I do that, he'll be distracted. I want Jackson to stare at _me_ not my breasts. When he's looking directly into my eyes I know he's listening. That doesn't happen a lot these days."

Reed reached across the table and grabbed the redhead's wrist. "Hey, how about I sneak you up into the gallery, so you can see Jackson in action?" she excitedly suggested. "I'll give you some scrubs to change into and you'll be fine."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" she worriedly asked. "What if somebody recognizes me?"

"Wear a surgical mask to hide your face. Besides, we'll only stick around for a little while. I have to return to my own work too." Instead of waiting for her friend to answer, Reed pulled her up from her chair and led her out of the cafeteria. "The only option is coming with me, so don't bother complaining."

"Reed, this is bad. I could get _you_ fired," April replied, slipping on her sunglasses again. "Then, you'll hate me and you'll never speak to me again-"

Stopping in the middle of the hallway, the brunette covered April's mouth with her hand to cut her off. "I should've said no complaining _and_ no whining." She set her hand down to her side. "We are going to see your fiancé. You should be grateful because it's possible you won't see him all day."

Reed snuck April into the residents locker room and forced her to change into the extra set of scrubs from her cubby. They walked to OR 1's viewing gallery, though the latter was hesitant to go inside. She simply wanted to take a quick peek of Jackson and leave afterwards.

"Okay, I see him. He looks like he's concentrating hard and if he notices I'm here, he might mess up and botch the surgery," she nervously said, tugging on Reed's arm. "And you need to get back to work."

"Gosh, I am so jealous of him right now. If Shepherd pulls this surgery off, he would be like a neurosurgery god. Well, he already kind of is, I guess," her friend said in amazement before she groaned. "Stupid cup."

"I'm leaving without you," April warned her in a threatening tone.

Reed sighed in annoyance as she stood up from her seat. "Fine, let's go."

Down below in the operating room, Jackson briefly glanced up when he noticed movement in the gallery out of the corner of his eye. He furrowed his eyebrows as April left with Reed, but he wasn't entirely sure if he had just seen his fiancée upstairs. Being awake since 5:20 AM with an empty stomach and sleep deprivation, he thought he might have been hallucinating.

"I'm losing it," the pretty boy mumbled to himself.

"What was that, Dr. Avery?" Shepherd questioned curiously. "Need a break?"

Jackson cleared his throat, shaking his head. "No, sir. Just talking to myself. I'm doing alright," he insisted, though lack of fluids in his system was beginning to take a toll on him. By then, the procedure had gone for a little over six hours and Derek was nowhere close to finishing. He was going to suck it up for as long as he could.

* * *

Twenty six hours. It was the longest surgery Jackson had ever participated in and unfortunately, he hadn't been able to complete his role. His hand cramped up on him due to dehydration, so he was forced to give up his spot at the OR table to Lexie for the rest of the procedure. Although he had been a part of all but five hours of the surgery, the third year resident was upset with himself because he couldn't finish it.

His grandfather had constantly reminded him of the motto, "It's not how you start. It's how you finish."

And instead of being that badass resident who endured twenty six straight hours in the OR helping Shepherd remove a spinal cord tumor, he had been standing off to the side massaging his cramped hand and feeling embarrassed for being called out on his stupid plan to keep Lexie from taking his glory.

It also happened with Yang watching from the gallery, so she felt obligated to give him crap about it when she found him changing out of his scrubs in the locker room. "Pretty Boy, Pretty Boy. Cramping in the OR? That's an amateur mistake," she teased as she approached her cubby.

"At least I wasn't wearing a diaper for nothing," he retorted, scowling back at her. "I was in an OR for an entire day, while you just watched."

"Who told you about the diaper?" Cristina responded, appearing dumbfounded.

Jackson smirked at her. "Word spreads quickly here."

"Well, for your information, Crampy, you could've been Shepherd's groomsman for the entire surgery if you wore one of those diapers. Who cares if you would've had to pee in it? Peeing in a diaper is ballsy. Not hydrating yourself is wimpy," she scoffed. "Instead of being the best man, you were demoted to flower girl."

"Bite me, Yang. Just keep in mind who _didn't_ get that pen into the cup," he reminded her.

Cristina watched Jackson gather his belongings after he changed into his street clothes. "Avery," she called out before he left the locker room. He glanced back at her irritably. "It could've been worse. Pout about being a loser for a day, then move on. Nobody will care tomorrow."

He slowly nodded, a half-smile forming on his face. "That's probably the nicest thing you've said to me since I arrived. Umm… thanks."

She dismissively waved her hand. "Oh, quit being a sap. Go home and pose in front of your mirror or something."

Jackson rolled his eyes, softly laughing to himself as he left the locker room. He had spent over twenty four hours away from his apartment and he wondered if April would be upset that she was alone. It was the first time a surgery kept them separated for a whole day and he missed her. They hadn't been able to spend quality time together in the last few days due to his busy work schedule. He would likely sleep throughout the day, which meant even more time away from each other.

His whole body ached and he couldn't stop yawning during the drive home. When he arrived at their apartment Jackson dropped his bag on the floor and kicked off his shoes on his way to the bedroom. It was almost 10 AM and April was sitting on the bed tying her running shoes. She was dressed in workout clothes, which was rare for her.

"Where are you going?" he tiredly asked, removing his jacket as he entered their bedroom.

"Trevor's picking me up and driving me to U-Dub, so I can drop off my application. Then, we're going hiking afterwards," she enthusiastically answered.

"You don't hike."

April stood up, zipping up her jacket and adjusting her ponytail. "I've had more time to do other things, in case you haven't noticed. So, yeah. I hike now," she nonchalantly said. "Maybe we could hike together one day."

Jackson rubbed his eyes. "Sure, when I don't feel like a zombie." He forced a laugh. "The strangest thing happened during the surgery. I seriously thought I saw you and Reed up in the gallery, but why would you be there in scrubs? I think I was hallucinating. That's why neuro isn't my specialty. Those surgeries can last a decade."

"Umm… you're right. You were probably hallucinating," she timidly replied. April approached her fiancée to give him a kiss, but he reeked of that unpleasant hospital smell. "Please take a shower before you sleep. I don't want our bed smelling like the OR. Anyway, I'm not sure what time I'll be home, but you'll likely be passed out when I come back. I'll see you later."

He leaned in for a kiss, but she quickly kissed his cheek and walked out of their bedroom. "You don't want to hear about the surgery? Shepherd got the tumor out."

"Tell me later. Trevor's waiting for me downstairs," she happily shouted before leaving their apartment.

Jackson heard the front door close, then he collapsed face first onto the bed. With the little time he saw April after arriving home, she may as well have been another hallucination, he thought. He suspected their time apart will be worse when she actually lands another job.


	5. No I In Threesome

**Sorry for the very long wait! Other projects took priority and I had a long case of writer's block. Anyway, I have more time for this story now, so I'll try not to keep you waiting again :)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Everywhere. Trevor was _everywhere_.

Sure, Jackson didn't mind seeing his friend, but lately, it seemed he couldn't be around April without Trevor acting as the unofficial third wheel. Two weeks and counting, the two unemployed buddies spent the majority of their days together. Yoga, lunch dates, shopping partners. Sometimes the pretty boy felt like _he_ was the third wheel. Even on his days off, he couldn't find time to be alone with his fiancée.

He tried not to appear too bitter because he knew neither of them had much to do outside of job hunting, though he hoped for once, the brunette man would hang out with other friends – not that either of them had many of them. Trevor's boyfriend was always busy working at Seattle Presbyterian, so April became his default companion.

As awful as it was thinking about it, Jackson occasionally thought voluntarily working at the hospital would be better than being at home and pushed aside. He seemed to be integrating with the Seattle Grace doctors more than Charles and Reed had. Although he was still seen as "one of them" from Mercy West, he already started to feel like he fit in with their crew. Maybe still considered an outsider, but he felt comfortable around them. Even Cristina Yang.

Sitting at the dining table and eating a bowl of cereal, Jackson watched April and Trevor take up the living room for their yoga session from afar. He didn't understand why their friend needed to be at their apartment at 9 AM. Barely an hour after waking up, their alone time was interrupted by his presence. The only positive note – he had a great view of his fiancée's behind from where he sat. Yoga pants were one of the many inventions he was grateful for.

"How much longer are you two gonna be?" he impatiently asked with a polite tone.

"Why?" April responded, turning her head to look at Jackson while maintaining her pose. "Did you want to do something today?"

He had numerous ideas he wanted to do with her, but one stood out the most. They hadn't made love in at least a week and the dry spell was torturing him. In the past, the couple had sex twice, sometimes three times a _day_. Lately, it was nada. He didn't want to sound like a dick by demanding they have sex, though. Most days, he was tired from work, but a quick round would have been good enough for him.

"I didn't really have anything in mind, but since I'm off today I thought we could go out tonight," he answered before gesturing his hand towards Trevor and sarcastically adding, "Unless, you two already planned a date of your own."

She chuckled and shook her head. "I'm free tonight. I would very much enjoy a date."

Jackson stood up and brought his bowl to the sink. "What are you feeling for dinner?" he inquired while he washed his bowl. "Maybe even some dancing?"

"You don't dance, dude," Trevor chimed in, sharing a laugh with April.

As much as he loved the guy, his eagerness to throw in his own opinions for date night annoyed the pretty boy. "I've danced before… I can dance," he insisted, scowling down at the sink. Truthfully, he was a shy dancer, but he didn't want his friend showing him up in front of her. "Just because you haven't seen me dance it doesn't mean I can't."

The redhead smiled as she changed yoga stances. "I trust you. I hope you'll save some of those moves for our wedding."

"Speaking of wedding," Trevor added, "When is it?"

Both Jackson and April remained silent, only exchanging brief glances at each other. The wedding topic still remained an unfinished discussion between them. She hoped that keeping mum over making plans would work to her favor and _he_ would eventually bring it up. Unfortunately, it didn't work.

He preferred talking about other things that had nothing to do with tuxedo fittings or honeymoon locations. It was usually surgeries, surgeries and more surgeries. Sometimes she was interested in what happened at work. Other times, she wanted him to shut up and talk about something else. She would even take Harvard football over whatever mind blowing surgery he scrubbed into.

"You know, it'd be nice to know the date, so I can begin dieting for my tuxedo fitting," Trevor awkwardly quipped. His joke didn't crack a smile on either of his friends causing him to slightly grimace. "Okay, I thought that would make one of you laugh."

"You don't need to diet, Trev," April murmured, ignoring the joke. Her cell phone set off an e-mail notification and she temporarily broke out of her stance to check it. She squealed in excitement when she read it to herself. "I have an interview with U-Dub on Monday!"

The brunette man grinned widely. "Awesome! That's really great news," he replied and engulfed her with a hug. "You submitted your application a couple weeks ago, so scoring an interview this fast is a good sign."

Jackson approached them after drying his hands. He placed a kiss on top of April's head and smiled. "Yeah, that's good for you. Have you heard from the other hospitals?"

She had applied to Tacoma General, Seattle Pres and Harborview Medical along with the University of Washington for her local options. Portland General also became an option in case the other hospitals rejected her. And there were a handful of other hospitals she never mentioned because they were all out of state – across the country, to be exact.

"No, though Portland Gen informed me that they've looked at my application and are considering me for an interview," his fiancée answered pessimistically.

"Portland? When did you apply there?" he asked curiously.

"I told you this last week," she recalled. "Trevor and I drove down there for his interview, so I decided to work on an application while I waited for him. It's just a safety precaution in case none of the other hospitals want me."

Jackson folded his arms and sighed. "It's three hours away. There's no way you're driving for six hours every day if you work there. You'd have to get your own place and probably only come home on your days off. I might not even be off when you are."

"Calm down, Jackson. I never said I wanted to work that far away from home," April retorted. "Portland Gen is my backup for my other backups. Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

"Might as well apply to hospitals in Spokane," he bitterly muttered.

"Spokane is _four_ hours away from Seattle! It's farther than Portland!"

Trevor stepped in between the couple, spreading his arms out. "Alright, let's all relax for a minute. There's no reason to be upset with each other, okay? Avery, maybe you should join us and do some yoga. It'll calm you down."

Backing away from them, Jackson shook his head. "No, thank you. I'll go meet up with Charles instead."

April rolled her eyes as he went to the bedroom. "Sometimes I feel like giving up," she whispered and frowned. "I can't do anything right around him. He's just always so mad and I don't know what I'm doing wrong."

"It's not you, you hear me?" Trevor assured her, offering another hug. "He probably carries all of his stress from work into your apartment and takes it out on you. I understand it makes you feel bad, but try not to let his issues get to you. Just remember he still loves you."

"Are you sure about that?" she skeptically replied. "I can't figure out what he's thinking these days. I don't- I don't know what I'm supposed to do anymore. If I don't get another job in Seattle, then what? Is he gonna leave me?"

He quickly shook his head. "No way. Don't worry about crap that won't happen, April. You'll get a job here whether it's at U-Dub or elsewhere, but you're staying in Seattle no matter what."

"Let's hope so."

* * *

Charles watched the basketball barely graze the rim and land in front of him. "Jesus, Avery. You're really off your game today, huh?" he teased as he approached Jackson with the basketball. They met up at the park for a friendly game or two, but his best friend had been playing terribly.

For somebody who loved basketball, played in high school and engaged in pick-up games whenever he could, Jackson's head wasn't completely there and his abysmal shooting showed it. "I haven't played in months, alright? Obviously, I'm rusty," he irritably replied. "Give me the ball."

"No, it's my turn," the burly man stated and positioned himself behind the three point line. "By the way, you're on H-O-R-S. I'll make it easier for you. I'm calling bank on this three point shot."

Placing his hands against his hips, Jackson stood aside and internally cursed at himself when Charles successfully completed his shot. He replaced his colleague at the same spot and shot the ball. Unfortunately, the basketball clanked off of the backboard before bouncing off of the side of the rim. "Son of a bitch!"

"For once, I win," he proudly congratulated himself. Charles grimaced after the pretty boy walked towards the basketball and kicked it as hard as he could. The ball ricocheted against a bench and hit his former roommate's forehead, knocking him over. "Dude, are you okay?"

"I wish," Jackson groaned, rubbing his forehead.

Charles helped him up, then they took a break on the same bench that had turned against his friend a minute earlier. "What's going on with you? You never lose to me and rusty shooting isn't an excuse. You can still kick my ass in Horse."

Jackson sipped his Gatorade before he responded. "Too much crap on my mind, I guess."

"Things doing okay at home?" he interrogated. "Reed kind of told me about some things April said to her a while back."

"Like what?"

"She seems to think you don't really want to get married anymore," Charles implied. "Do you still love her, Avery?"

"Of course I do," Jackson retorted. "Why would you ask me something like that? Of course I still love April. I just don't know if getting married anytime soon is right for us. She doesn't have a freaking job and there's a chance she has to leave the state to find work. I don't want to spend our first year as a married couple apart. That's stupid."

"Have you talked to her about this?"

He shook his head. "I can't. I mean, I don't want to because I know how she's going to react. April's been looking forward to getting married since we got engaged. We stalled for as long as we could and this was supposed to be the time to start planning the wedding, but…"

"But… what?" Charles questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"We were fine until she killed that patient and got herself fired!" Jackson voiced in frustration, pounding his fist against the wooden bench. His outburst surprised not only his best friend but himself. The tension between him and April, the arguments – he blamed it on her and he felt like a jerk. "I'm not used to hardly seeing her all day."

Charles patted Jackson's shoulder and sighed. "I get your frustration, but c'mon. You can't hold what happened to April against her forever. That'll kill your relationship."

"Do you think I _want_ to have resentful feelings towards her?" he snapped. "If I could blame _you_ for April losing her job, I would!"

"Okay, I'm completely fine with being blameless," his coworker chuckled. Jackson scowled at Charles as he punched his bicep. "Hey, the violence is unnecessary. Anyway, you gotta tell her the truth. You can't pretend things are fine between you two. She probably already knows things are rocky."

"I don't want to hurt her. She'll assume stalling the wedding _again_ means I don't want to marry her at all, but I do," Jackson explained. "You and I both know how sensitive April can be. I hate seeing her cry, especially if it's my fault."

Charles mischievously grinned back at him. "Want me to tell her?"

"I'm pretty sure you'd only make her feel worse," he muttered. "And another thing, Stanley is almost like our unofficial third roommate. When I get home he's there. Sometimes when I'm leaving for work he's already there! I'm not getting laid because of him!"

"Ah, Trev's playing cockblock now. That's what happens when you're unemployed," Charles quipped. "If he's that much in the way, just tell him. I doubt he'll be butt hurt about you wanting to be alone with April."

"Well, I can't do it in front of her. She'll think I'm a dick. He's the closest friend she has to keep her company every day until somebody hires her. At least U-Dub is interviewing her."

"Really? That's cool. Want me to bribe the Chief?" Charles offered. "He taught one of my classes when I attended med school, so he might remember me."

Jackson slowly shook his head as he looked away from his friend. "No, I think April will be good without your help." He dropped his head, letting out a sigh. "If she gets the job, then we'll probably only see each other for five minutes every day. I feel like a selfish bastard because I don't see her enough already, but I want her to continue her residency. Why can't Seattle Grace just hire her back? I've heard of residents doing worse things before we merged and they got their jobs back."

"It's the Mercy West curse. We were expendable from the start," Charles speculated. "It takes one mistake for any of us and we're screwed."

"I think I'm starting to fit in with the Seattle Grace doctors."

"When you look the way you do, you'd blend in with the likes of Shepherd and Sloan," he scoffed. "You guys should start an official Pretty Boy Club."

Jackson rolled his eyes. "Give me a break. I doubt my appearance gives me any advantage. Yang still gets more cardio cases than I do. And nobody's figured out the Avery connection. I'd like to keep it that way."

"Why not? Maybe this time, your last name will work to your advantage," Charles implied. "Then, people like Yang will be bowing down to you and wanting to meet the big H."

"No. I don't want them finding out about my grandfather," Jackson defensively replied. "I hated the attention at Mercy West and I'm not eager for that same attention at Seattle Grace. Keep your mouth shut, Charles."

"Fine, whatever." He stood up, dribbling the basketball a couple of times. "How about a real game of one on one this time?"

The pretty boy nodded in agreement and rejoined his best friend on the basketball court. He decided to let go of his problems for another hour, then deal with them at home. In the meantime, all of his frustrations were going to be taken out on poor Charles.

* * *

Opening the door to his apartment, Jackson set his gym bag on the floor after he walked inside. He paused just in front of the doorway when he spotted Trevor sitting alone on the couch and watching TV. Having been gone for two hours, he had hoped his friend would have left by the time he arrived home, which didn't end up being the case. He clenched his jaw, almost wanting to pick up the brunette man and throw him out of his apartment.

But Trevor was one of his most reliable friends. It was _his_ idea to have him support April as much as possible while they were both out of work after all. That plan seemed to somewhat backfire on Jackson now.

After closing the front door, Jackson quietly approached Trevor, tapping him on the shoulder. "Hey," he whispered. "Where's April?"

"She's starting up the laundry," he politely answered, looking up at his pretty eyed friend. "Cool down yet?"

"Uhh, yeah. There's something I have to tell you, though," Jackson sat down on the couch's armrest and forced a smile. "Trev, I like you, bro. No offense, but you need to get the hell out of my apartment."

Trevor nervously laughed at his threat. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, but you're here all the time, which is good for April because it means she's not alone. On the other hand, your constant presence is bad for _me_."

"I'm not exactly following you, Avery."

"I just want to have sex, man!" Jackson blurted out and checked over his shoulder to ensure his fiancée hadn't overheard his whining. He faced Trevor again, resting his hand on the other man's shoulder. "I'll tell April you forgot about an errand you needed to do."

Trevor softly chuckled after Jackson winked at him. "Ah, I see." He immediately stood up and gathered his belongings. "No problem. I'll be on my way now."

"Thanks. Sorry to sound so harsh-"

"Nah, I understand," he insisted, smirking at his friend. "Horny urges. I get them too."

Jackson followed Trevor to the front door and let him out. "See ya, Stanley." He spent a few seconds celebrating in his head before heading towards the hallway. April was at the far end dumping dirty clothes into the washer. "I'm home, but uhh… Trev had to leave. Errands."

"Oh, that's okay. It's gotten a little boring now anyway. All I'm doing is laundry," she replied with a giggle. Her back remained facing him. "I emptied out the hamper, but do you have anything you want me to throw in the washer?"

Staring at the redheaded woman, his eyes focused on her yoga pants just like earlier that morning. The tight, blue tank top outlined her body and he loved the messy ponytail on her. Jackson swiftly stripped out of his clothes and held them in his hands as he walked closer to her with a smug smile on his face.

"Yeah, I do," he breathed, reaching around April's waist to give her his clothes.

"Thank you," she chirped and dumped the clothes into the washer. April continued on with her business, completely unaware of the fact that her fully nude fiancé stood inches behind her. She dropped in some detergent and started the washing machine before she finally turned around. Her eyes grew wide at the sight of his bare chest and well, everything. "Oh. You're naked."

Jackson glanced down at himself and nodded. "Yup."

She stumbled backwards and bumped into the washing machine, making him laugh. "I… I'm really gross and sweaty."

"So am I," he nonchalantly replied. "It's me, April. You've seen me like this a countless number of times."

"I know. I just wasn't expecting to turn around and see you all… naked and delicious."

"Delicious?" Jackson snickered at her choice of words. "I don't recall you ever calling me that before."

April sheepishly grinned back at him. "I must have said it thousands of times in my head until now."

Jackson smirked and cupped her cheeks before passionately kissing his fiancée. She ran her fingers along his muscular chest and down to this abdomen. Before she could move them further down, he quickly picked her up and carried her into their bedroom.

* * *

Kicking out Trevor was the best decision Jackson had made all day. Using his elbows to support his weight, he hovered above April and pressed his forehead against hers. "You are amazing," he breathlessly said and smiled. "Well, you always are, but that yoga is really paying off."

"Oh, shush!" she playfully retorted, pushing him onto his back. April rolled onto her side and rested her head against Jackson's chest. She smiled to herself, feeling satisfied with the lack of tension between them. "I can't reject you when you're nude like that."

He thought because they were more relaxed now, it was the right moment to have a deeper conversation. It normally took him a while to completely open up to her and she would usually have to force the truth out of him. This time, he was going to make the first move.

"So, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about," he started, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "It's about our wedding."

April's head sprung up like a jack-in-the-box. "Really? Because I've had all of these ideas written down that I want to share with you," she excitedly responded.

"Actually, I've been thinking that we should… postpone the wedding once more," Jackson reluctantly suggested, shutting his eyes and slightly grimacing. "The timing doesn't feel as ideal anymore."

Her smile transformed into a frown. "Why do you think that?"

He took a deep breath and sighed. "Listen, neither of us are sure yet where you'll end up when you get another job. I just feel that getting married this summer might not be the best plan if you have to leave Seattle."

"You think I'll have to leave Seattle now?" she questioned dejectedly. "You've been confident about me staying here, but now you're having second thoughts? Way to support me, Jackson."

"It's not that I don't think you can't find another residency spot here, but we should be thinking about all of the possible scenarios. I don't want us becoming overconfident about U-Dub and you don't get in, you know?"

April sat up on the bed, pulling the covers against her chest. "Wait a minute. Did you have sex with me to soften me up before you drop the bomb on me about postponing the wedding?"

"No! Of course not!" Jackson argued. "We were having a dry spell and I just really wanted to be alone with you because all we've been doing is fighting or acting pissy towards each other. Everything's been a mess since you were let go."

"Okay, so all of this is my fault. Is that what you're saying?" she accusingly replied. "You know what? If you don't want to marry me, then just tell me. Stop playing mind games with me, Jackson Avery."

The full name treatment. He knew he was in major trouble. "April, I do want to marry you! I knew I wanted to marry you after I realized I fell in love with you," he insisted. "All I'm saying is maybe we should wait until we're fully settled to have the wedding."

"Well, I thought we were," the redhead tearfully responded.

"So did I, but things changed. The merger was unexpected and priorities shifted," Jackson calmly said. He frowned as April wiped a tear away from her face with her hand. "I'm sorry."

April moved away from him when he reached for her hand. "I'm- I'm gonna take a shower," she murmured. Taking the blanket with her, she dragged it along the floor on her way to the bathroom.

He cringed after she slammed the door shut behind her. "I guess date night is cancelled tonight?" the pretty boy called out and unsurprisingly didn't receive a response from his fiancée. The shower started running and he covered his face with his hands. "Most likely."

* * *

The mood in the apartment was negative once again. April ignored Jackson when she finished her shower and carried on with her Saturday chores. She tried to keep herself occupied as much as possible. Laundry, checking her e-mail for possible employers and her favorite way to shut out her fiancé – vacuuming.

Her other half felt guilty for bringing up his opinions at the wrong time. Jackson knew Charles would be laughing in his face if he found out what had happened. Opening up and being honest wasn't one of his stronger assets mainly due to the way he addressed himself. Perhaps some of his choice of words had come out wrong. He couldn't really fix them now because the damage had already been done.

He unloaded the dryer and carried the laundry basket into the living room. April was busy vacuuming their bedroom, so he opted to fold their clothes on the couch. Truthfully, he was awful at folding clothes. Every time he tried, she would eventually refold everything. She had a particular way of folding laundry, so he decided to try to replicate it to earn back some much needed points.

The roar of the vacuum grew louder as April made her way down the hallway and towards the living room. She walked past the couch, taking a step back to check the folded clothes. Jackson gazed up at her worriedly, thinking she was going to redo his work. Instead, she continued vacuuming and ignoring him again.

The silent treatment became unbearable for him. He knew they weren't going to last very long as a married couple if this was how they dealt with their issues. Pushing himself up from the couch, he approached his fiancée from behind and turned off the vacuum, to her dismay.

"You're pissed at me. I'm aware of that, but the silent treatment stops here," he demanded, turning her around so they were face to face. "Since we've been friends, you've always wanted me to be more open and honest with you. I'm sorry I hurt your feelings, but that wasn't my intention. And I'm sorry I've been blowing off wedding talks until now. I'm not telling you to stop being mad at me, but pretending I don't exist until you're not isn't allowed in our home anymore. We talk, okay?"

April slowly glanced up at Jackson and sighed. "You folded the shirts wrong."

He pursed his lips and eventually broke into a smile. "Damn. I thought I finally mastered the art of Kepner folding."

A muffled chuckle escaped her mouth. "No, you're still bad at it," she bluntly replied.

"I tried," Jackson innocently stated, giving her the puppy lip. She laughed out loud and he pulled her in for a hug. He was relieved the heated tension had died down thanks to his crappy folding technique. "I'm sorry. I mean it."

"I believe you. We can still go out tonight."

"Dinner and dancing?"

"If you're serious about the dancing part," April teased.

"I can dance," Jackson determinedly said. "I'll show you right now."

Just as he was about to bust a move, there was a knock on the door. He checked to see who their visitor was through the peephole and gasped. "It's my _mom_."

"What?" April panicked as she dumped all of the clean laundry into the basket and ran into their bedroom with it. Mama Avery's presence made her instantly nervous. Plus, she was just wearing an old Akron t-shirt and worn out basketball shorts. Her hair was fixed in a messy bun and she didn't feel dressed up enough for her fiancé's mother. She casually returned to the living room trying to appear calm and collected. "Open the door, Jackson."

Answering the door, Jackson was puzzled by the arrival of Catherine Avery. No warning whatsoever. He absolutely hated it when she dropped by unannounced, especially now. "Mom, what are you doing here?"

He was afraid to find out.

* * *

**Let me know what you think please :)**


	6. Mama Avery Part II

**Thank you for the reviews! I feel like this chapter comes at the right time because Mama Avery really needs to find out about J&A on the show, imo. She's been in the dark about them for too long. At least she knows about them in this world :)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Neither Jackson nor April could pinpoint a reason why Catherine Avery was making an unannounced visit in Seattle. Her baby boy had spoken to her a few days ago when she called in for one of her many annoying checkups. Their conversations usually consisted of quick chit chat because he hardly enjoyed her meddling or how often he interrogated his personal life. There were various topics he refused to talk about with her, some relating to his fiancée, for obvious reasons.

Jackson hoped she hadn't somehow found out that April lost her job at Seattle Grace Mercy West. Mama Avery was always sneaky with digging out information about anything, including deep, dark secrets. He worried his mother arrived to tell her that she was no longer a perfect fit for him because she was unemployed.

April also carried the same worry, along with the lack of wedding planning. Catherine had been nagging her more than her own mother had about setting a date and choosing a location. What was she supposed to tell her? _Sorry, but your son doesn't want to marry me right now?_

That would only create even more friction between them by unintentionally painting her best friend as the bad guy. She felt slightly nauseous as the urologist entered the apartment. Keeping her composure around her future mother-in-law was as easy as staying calm during a root canal. In other words, the redhead sucked at it. Despite growing more comfortable around Catherine, she still found herself awestruck occasionally. While Jackson could successfully keep a poker face in front of his mother, April struggled with it and cracked under pressure.

And when she cracked, she was forced to confess the truth.

"Baby, you've got bags underneath your eyes," Catherine noted, reaching up to touch Jackson's skin, but he ducked his head away. "You look exhausted. Are you getting enough sleep? I know this merger must be taking a toll on you two. Having to fight to keep your jobs must be sucking the life out of you."

April swallowed hard and forced herself to smile. She reminded herself to think happy thoughts and hope Jackson rescues her by doing most of the talking. He knew how to handle his mother's craziness.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Jackson finally repeated his question from earlier. He leaned in closer and whispered, "You know how much I hate these surprise visits. What if I wasn't even home?"

In the back of his mind, he wished they had just pretended neither of them were home.

"Oh, I called your work to ensure you were home," Catherine replied with a laugh. "You know I have to double check and make sure you didn't flee the state for whatever reason."

"Or you could've just called _me_," he irritably answered. "That would've been easier for all of us."

She smirked at her son. "Well, then it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?" The older Avery snickered as Jackson rolled his eyes. "I'm here for business. Seattle Pres specifically requested my service for a genitourinary reconstruction, so of course, I accepted the offer because it gives me more than one reason to come visit my baby boy and his beautiful wife-to-be."

Behind them, April let out a sigh of relief. Had Catherine been making an appearance at Seattle Grace, then she would certainly find out that she no longer worked for them. Jackson felt equally relieved, but couldn't exactly show it yet.

He gestured his hand towards the couch. "Do you want to sit down? We were just cleaning up the apartment, so we clearly weren't prepared for your arrival."

"First, let me greet April, sweetie." Catherine waved her hands as she approached the nervous redhead. "Why are you standing so far away, dear? Even in those saggy clothes you look gorgeous."

April forced a laugh as the other woman squeezed the life out of her. "I uhh… just wanted you and Jackson to share a moment first since you don't get to see him often." She pulled away from the urologist and stepped into the kitchen. "Would you like some coffee or tea?"

"Tea would be lovely. Whatever you have in your cupboard is fine," she politely replied before sitting down on the couch. Catherine patted the empty spot beside her as she looked up at Jackson. "Sit, baby."

The pretty boy sat down on the opposite end of the couch, leaving as much space as he could in between him and his mother. He had no idea what to talk about with her. The wedding nor work were a priority on his list. "Uhh, how's everything at home?"

Catherine removed her coat before she responded. "It's been great. Samantha's cruising along with her cardiothoracics fellowship and Joslyn's handling her Chief Resident role smoothly," she gloated. "Your grandfather continues to wonder when you'll accept the residency spot he left open for you at Mass Gen. Both of your sisters would gladly take you under their wings."

"You should already know the answer to that question – no thank you," Jackson unenthusiastically answered.

His issues with his family hadn't changed since intern year. Harper Avery persisted on leaving a spot open for his grandson at Mass Gen hoping he would finally change his mind and return home. The whole point of coming to Seattle was to stay as far away as possible from his family's legacy. He had no plans of moving back home anytime soon.

"Are you sure? Because I could even pull some strings and find a place for April at The Brigham," Mama Avery insisted. "I wouldn't ask you to move home and leave her here in Seattle. That would be ridiculous."

_If only I could accept the offer_, April thought while she prepared tea for Catherine. With her current situation, she would take a job at The Brigham in a heartbeat, but there was no way it would ever happen, not with how much Jackson wanted to prove himself as a surgeon without his family's help. They would literally have to break up for her to work in Boston.

"I'm more than sure, Mom. We're fine where we are," he assured his mother.

"Are you confident about specializing in neurosurgery, April?" Catherine called out to the redhead. She turned around on the couch to face her. "You haven't thought about something else? Like maybe… urology?"

"Don't try to influence her, please," Jackson intervened, furrowing his eyebrows. "She's fine with neuro."

"I… yeah, I enjoy neuro a lot," his fiancée hesitantly responded. "I'm not looking to change interests as of right now."

April finished heating up water and poured it into a small cup. She dropped a tea bag inside before walking towards the couch holding the plate in one hand. The living room was partly quiet except for the clanking sounds of the cup hitting against the plate. Her nerves were beginning to show even more. Both Averys stared at her concerned.

"I-I hope you're alright with honey vanilla chamomile," she murmured and smiled.

"Oh, that's fine by me. Thank you," Catherine said before nodding her head at April's hand with a raised eyebrow. "But it's your hand I'm worried about. Too much caffeine today, sweetie? I thought you would've spilled tea all over the floor by the time you reached me."

"I'm pretty sure it's just tired. Umm… I've been cleaning for a few hours now," she shyly replied, sitting down beside Jackson. "How's the tea?"

Mama Avery sipped her tea and nodded in approval. "It's wonderful, dear." She crossed her legs, smiling at the couple. "Let's talk about the real business in hand. April, I've had some discussions with Karen in the past month and she says you haven't been sending her any ideas for the wedding."

"Y-you've been talking to my mom?"

"Of course! She and I have been exchanging details since you two became engaged… _two_ years ago," she implied with a sigh. "But I'm sure you're both aware that there haven't been many details to actually share with each other since our babies seem to be slacking with their part in the wedding planning."

Jackson wrapped his arm around April's shoulders, pulling her against his side as if to protect her from Catherine's eventual wrath. They both simply needed to remain calm and not show any hints that they haven't planned anything at all. So far, his other half was doing better than expected, albeit for one moment. He knew she preferred he did most of the talking.

"We've been busy, Mom," he coolly replied, rubbing his hand up and down his fiancée's arm. "There isn't a lot of time out of our days to do much planning."

April internally cringed listening to Jackson lie to his mother. She understood he was doing it to hide the truth, but knowing he didn't want to get married yet continued to sting. Now she wasn't sure what would be worse – Catherine finding out their wedding plans hit a wall or that she bummed around in her apartment because she lost her job. The nauseous feeling she had been experiencing grew worse, like she could vomit at any second.

She pushed herself up from the couch and ran towards the bathroom. "Excuse me for a minute!"

The sounds of gagging echoed in the apartment making Mama Avery scrunch her face in disgust. "Poor baby. Is she sick?" she questioned, then she suddenly gasped and whispered, "Jackson, are you giving me a grandbaby?"

Her son's eyes immediately grew wide. "What? No!"

"Are you lying to me, baby? Her face does appear to be a little rounder," Catherine insisted, drawing invisible circles in front of her face. "But even with the rounder cheeks, I think she'll be a beautiful pregnant woman."

Jackson rolled his eyes and groaned. "April is not pregnant. I guarantee you she's not."

She grasped his cheeks with one hand, turning his head towards her. "You're not lying to me, are you?" the urologist asked in a serious tone as she squeezed his cheeks. "Because I can easily get it out of April if you don't tell me the truth. I know how to make her crack, dear."

He waved his arms frantically. "Don't. Don't humiliate her, please. She's been stressed out lately and you interrogating her won't help her at all."

"Ah, too much stress can lead to miscarriages," she noted, winking at her baby boy. "We most definitely don't want to see that happen to her."

Jackson threw his head back against the couch and covered his face with a pillow. He knew his mother well and she wasn't going to stop nagging him until he caved in, but there wasn't a baby to confess about…

…or was there?

He jumped up onto his feet feeling apprehensive about the possibility that April _could_ be carrying his child. "I'm gonna check on April, see how she's doing."

Walking down the hallway, Jackson thought April had been in the guest bathroom, but she was actually hiding in their own bathroom. He lightly knocked on the door before he opened it. She was sitting against the wall tightly clutching her knees together. "Everything okay?" he asked as he closed the door behind him. Taking a seat beside her, he noticed the tears in her eyes. "Listen, I know my mother's overwhelming for the most part, but you're doing fine. She doesn't suspect anything. Well… except she thinks you're pregnant."

"What?" the tearful redhead gasped. She quickly shook her head. "I-I-I'm not, Jackson. I w-would've told you if I was."

He placed a kiss against her temple and wiped away her tears with his thumb. "I know."

"But if I was… would you be mad?"

"I'd be shocked for sure, but I wouldn't be mad. I mean, we haven't talked about having kids yet. And I know you're extremely careful about taking your birth control and while it's not 100% effective, it's something I've never worried about." Jackson playfully rested his hand on April's lower abdomen and smiled. "We'd make pretty cute kids, don't you think?"

She softly laughed. "You've got babies on the brains now?"

"I do enjoy how you make them," he quipped, chuckling after she jokingly elbowed his side. "I'm being honest. But seriously, I do want kids with you one day."

"That's very good to know." She rested her chin on his shoulder. "However, my father will kill you if babies come before a wedding. Keep that in mind."

Jackson pursed his lips, tilting his head sideways and resting it against April's forehead. He realized they were finally going through that dreaded rough patch. Not the worst situation they could be in because he considered himself to be happy with her, but it was obvious to the both of them that they currently weren't on the same page in their relationship. He wasn't itching to have children at that moment, but he knew those wouldn't come until they made that elegant trip down the aisle. And he continued to believe getting married soon wasn't the best plan for them.

Sometimes he wished maybe they should have skipped the traditional ceremony and secretly eloped in a courthouse. He loved April and wanted to give her everything she deserved, but this damn wedding issue was slowly taking a toll on them negatively. It would be easy to suck it up and go through it already. However, he didn't think it would be fair if he married her just for the sake of finally being married. For her, it would be the most important day of her life and he wanted that same feeling.

A knock on the door interrupted their quiet alone time. "Yes?" he called out, helping her up from the floor.

"Is everything okay in there, you two?" Catherine inquired from the opposite side of the door. "April, honey, are you sick?"

"N-no, I'm not sick," April timidly answered. "But I think I ate something bad."

"Well, I hope your digestive system will be alright tonight because I made dinner reservations for the three of us," she enthusiastically explained. "How does Italian sound?"

Jackson chewed on his lower lip. It was supposed to be date night for him and his fiancée, their first date in weeks. "Uhh… we actually have plans tonight, Mom."

"Reschedule, baby. I'm only here for the next two days and I'll be extremely busy for the duration of this trip," Mama Avery ordered. "The three of us have a lot to discuss, okay?"

April placed her hand over her mouth, fighting back the nausea that had apparently resurfaced. She looked at Jackson, who appeared incredibly annoyed with the situation, like he was ready to stab himself repeatedly with a scalpel. Date night with his mother was worse than no date in his mind.

* * *

"I don't know what to wear!" April shrieked from the inside of their closet. She felt as if she had tried on every single dress she owned and nothing satisfied her. Dinner with Catherine wasn't just _dinner_ ever. It was also maintaining a good impression on her future mother-in-law. Regardless of Jackson's assurances that his mother loved her, she thought her mind could easily change if she discovered the truth, especially since they had been hiding her unemployment for over a month. "Jackson! I can't find anything to wear!"

Her fiancé stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist after finishing his shower. "What are you talking about? What about that uhh… the blue strapless one? It's nice and sexy on you."

"I'm trying to impress your mother not seduce her," she replied in frustration. "Nothing feels right for dinner."

Jackson skimmed the various outfits piled on their bed. He normally didn't help April dress up because she had great taste in clothes, so anything she wore was a turn on for him. She was clearly on the verge of a nervous breakdown. "Hmm…" The pretty boy picked up two different dresses with each hand – one sleeveless, emerald green dress and a simple, yellow sundress. "These are my favorites on you."

"The green one is too fancy and the yellow one reminds me of the time we had sex in the car when we got bored at your family's fundraising party in Boston." She folded her arms and frowned. "Plus, I'm 90% positive your mother knew we snuck away to have sex."

He irritably set the dresses on the bed before choosing a black, spaghetti strapped dress. "How about this one?

April quietly stared at the dress, then she shook her head. "No, it'll look like I'm attending my own funeral."

"You have to wear something," he groaned. "Unless, you'd rather go naked, which I certainly don't mind."

"It's not the time for jokes!" She stomped back into their closet. "Do you think I can buy a new dress in less than an hour?"

"No," Jackson muttered, walking towards their closet and pulling her out of it. He grabbed a hold of her hands, rubbing the back of them with his thumbs. "Take a deep breath and calm down. You're panicking for no reason. Close your eyes and take one deep breath. Trust me, you'll feel better, babe."

Closing her eyes, April slowly took a deep breath, but instead of letting it out calmly, she broke down in tears. "I'm sorry! I can't do this!" she sobbed, burying her face into her hands and crying hysterically.

He grimaced as he watched his fiancée cry. "Yeah, that's not the reaction I was hoping for."

She gazed up at him with tears streaming down her face. "Jackson, I can't face your mother anymore. Sh-she's gonna know we've been lying to her and I don't want to lie to her anymore, but she can't know I don't have a job! If she finds out, she'll call my parents and they'll disown me. And Catherine's gonna h-hate me and she won't think I'm good enough for you, then you'll think I'm not good enough to be your wife-"

"Hey, stop it." Jackson cupped April's cheeks and kissed her forehead. "My mom won't hate you and I will _never_ think you're not good enough for me. I love you and I'm always going to love you no matter what happens in the future."

"Despite my crazy?"

"You're not crazy, April. You're a woman who shows a lot of emotion and there's nothing wrong with that," he comfortably assured her. "You're full of passion and that's one of the many things I love about you."

She cleared her throat and sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm just scared."

Jackson wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against his bare chest. "Don't be, okay? I know my mom has the tendency to scare people even when it's not Halloween, but try not to show you're scared. Then she'll suspect something for sure," he advised as he rubbed her back. "And also, try not to randomly burst into tears during dinner. My mom will continue to assume you're pregnant if you look hormonal."

"Don't show any signs of pregnancy. Got it," April murmured to herself. She closed her eyes and inhaled the scent of her fiancé's body wash. "You smell good."

"I did just get out of the shower," he chuckled. She clung onto him tightly when he tried to step back. "We both need to get ready for dinner."

"In a minute."

He awkwardly stood in place, his eyes wandering around the bedroom with a smirk on his face. "I feel like I'm in an Axe commercial."

She pulled away from him and bashfully smiled. "Thank you for being amazing."

Jackson scanned the scattered dresses on the bed and chose a royal blue, sleeveless dress. He held it in front of April's body, nodding his head in approval. "Wear this one, sweetheart. This is also my mother's favorite color." And in the back of his mind, he knew it showed off her cleavage. "No more panicking."

April took the dress, then she jumped up onto her tip toes and kissed her fiancé's lips. "Thank you again."

"You're welcome," he happily replied and walked into the closet to find clothes to wear.

* * *

Catherine patiently waited for Jackson and April to arrive at the restaurant for their dinner date. She had a sinking feeling her baby boy and his fiancée were hiding something from her mainly due to the latter's strange behavior during her visit in their home. The redhead acted more off than usual and if it wasn't pregnancy, it was something else. She spotted the couple entering the restaurant and excitedly waved at them.

"There are my babies!" she boisterously called out to them.

Her son couldn't feel more embarrassed as bystanders gave them awkward stares. It felt like freshman year of high school when Mama Avery occasionally used to pick him up after school and obnoxiously honk her horn to get his attention. He pulled out April's chair for her before sitting down beside her.

"I think people heard you from the streets, Mom," he bluntly pointed out, glancing down at the menu.

"Oh, hush with your sarcasm. We're going to have a pleasant dinner without the bickering, okay?" Catherine scolded him, then she smiled at April. "I love your dress, honey. Lovely color."

"Thank you, Dr. Avery," she graciously responded.

"Now, how far along are you?"

April's eyes slowly grew wide. She forced herself to smile as she reached for the glass of water sitting on the table. "I-I am not pregnant. Believe me, I would share the news with you and my family if that was the case," she calmly answered and sipped her water. "No, bun in this oven. This oven is cold. In fact, who knows if my oven even works?"

Catherine furrowed eyebrows at her. "Are you telling me the truth? This time, look me directly in the eyes and say you're not pregnant."

Setting her glass down, the third year resident confidently stared into the urologist's eyes and grinned. "I'm not pregnant," she chirped. "And I promise, when I am you'll be the first to find out."

Jackson scrunched his nose and quickly shrugged. "Or maybe not," he mumbled to himself.

"Fine. I believe you, but I'm not entirely convinced either of you are being honest with me." Catherine placed her elbow on the table and rested the back of her hand underneath her chin. She switched glances between the young couple, silently pondering who to grill first. "Hmm… which of the two of you will succumb to the pressure first?"

He turned his head to look at April, who was grinning widely at his mother. Maybe too wide. The overly perky grin was a red flag. She was going to break soon. "Mom, you want the truth? I'll tell you," the pretty boy started, facing Catherine again. "We're having a hard time deciding who should be included in the wedding party."

The redhead instantly stared back at Jackson. Lying about being pregnant would have been better than pretending to care about the wedding in her mind. She wished he could have made up a lie that didn't have anything to do with that.

"What are you having trouble with? April has three automatic bridesmaids in her sisters and I'm sure Reed will be your maid of honor," Mama Avery insisted and waved her hand at her son. "And baby, even though you lack brothers, you have plenty of male cousins who would gladly participate in the wedding. Will Charles or Trevor be your best man?"

Jackson unbuttoned the top button of his white dress shirt and lightly fanned himself. Why he decided to bring up the wedding, he had no idea, but by the look on April's face, she didn't appear to be ready to rescue him at any point. "Uhh… I'm not sure yet. I might just flip a coin or have them arm wrestle for the job."

"Well, you have until- when _is_ the date? Neither of you have given me a date for the wedding." Catherine opened her purse and retrieved a planner. She flipped through a few pages and pointed at a specific date. "If you're aiming for a summer wedding, I think June 26th is perfect. Just before the new contract year begins."

"I suppose."

April cleared her throat as she stood up. "I'm going to use the restroom. Excuse me."

Catherine raised her eyebrow at Jackson after his fiancée left their table. "Do I need to ask you if she's pregnant again? What is going on with that woman?"

"Upset stomach, Mom. She told you this earlier," he defensively replied.

"But why do I feel like there's more than you're letting on? I don't appreciate being lied to, baby."

"We're not hiding anything from you. This whole prying for information thing you do has to stop. I understand you feel the need to know everything that's happening in my life because you're my mother, but I'm doing just fine. April and I are fine. We're happy," he explained. "We have our stupid fights except nothing like you and Dad. I mean, I don't really remember what happened between you two, but I can't see things becoming that bad with April."

"Your father didn't leave us because of me, Jackson," Mama Avery noted with a sigh. "He left because of your grandfather. He pushed him too hard and he just… gave up."

Jackson nonchalantly shrugged. "Dad was an asshole anyway."

"Don't talk about your father that way," she sternly replied. "He was a good man."

"Please, he was a pathetic father. Barely paid attention to me growing up. Sitting in his office while he finished paperwork isn't how a son is supposed to bond with their dad," he scoffed, shaking his head disappointedly. "He made me feel worthless."

Catherine reached across the table, grasping Jackson's hand. "You're not worthless. You know, perhaps you did the right thing in leaving Boston. I wouldn't want your grandfather putting you through the same stress your father faced." She smiled as she squeezed his hand. "And you wouldn't have met your little farmer girl."

April returned from the women's restroom and smiled. She needed a minute away from the Averys to calm herself down. A brief breathing exercise helped. Otherwise, she might have blurted everything out to Catherine at the table. "Did our waiter come by?"

"Not yet, but try to stay away from anything too rich, dear," the older woman suggested. "You don't want to be vomiting like crazy later after dinner. Anyway, is the 26th a suitable date for the wedding?"

"Umm…" She gently bit down on her lower lip and looked at Jackson. "I think that might be too soon."

"Too _soon_? Honey, we've waited two years to plan your wedding. I highly disagree that a June wedding is considered too soon. It's currently November, which gives you a little more than six months to organize this. Yours truly can take charge if you'd like," Catherine offered. "And your mother would be happy to team up with me as well."

The waiter arrived to take the threesome's orders, to the couple's relief. It was a much needed interruption for them, so they could take a minute and try to think of more ways to talk around the wedding planning. After their waiter left, Jackson decided to change the subject before it could be revisited.

"Mom, have I told you about this spinal tumor I scrubbed into with Dr. Shepherd?" he asked. "Best surgery I've been in so far since the merger because he successfully removed it after it was declared inoperable initially."

"Sounds like a surgery April should've scrubbed into," Catherine insinuated before drinking her wine. "How did you manage to miss out on that procedure?"

April nervously laughed. "I did see it… for a minute or two, but I had other things to do," she sheepishly responded. "Unlucky, I guess. You know what they say. Can't have them all."

"But for somebody who's heavily interested in neurosurgery, you should've fought for that one. It doesn't matter if you were up against Jackson. Sometimes you have to play dirty, even with the ones you love the most."

"Oh, yeah," she muttered, slowly nodding her head. "But sometimes the ones you love the most can also be the most hurtful."

Jackson glanced back at his fiancée with a puzzled expression on his face. He wasn't quite sure if that was a jab at himself, but there was some obvious tension between them that he hoped Mama Avery wouldn't notice.

* * *

"It felt like everything you talked about made _me_ look bad," April argued as she and Jackson entered their apartment. At the conclusion of dinner, they had been bickering since parting ways with Catherine. "Your mom assumes we have a wedding date because you thought it was a great idea to lie about the details."

"That stuff just sort of came out! I wasn't thinking straight," he countered, shutting the front door behind him. "And how exactly did I make you look bad? My mom still has no idea that you're unemployed. I did a pretty damn good job covering both of our asses tonight."

"By making wedding plans that you don't even care about!"

Jackson angrily followed April into their bedroom. "They're not set in stone! We never actually confirmed with my mom about that wedding date. All of the crap I brought up afterwards distracted her from remembering to save that date in her planner." He sat down on the bed and kicked off his shoes. "Would you rather I flat out tell her everything and have the news of your unemployment go back to your parents?"

"No, but it would've been nice if you just left out the wedding bullshit in the first place." She sighed as she removed her earrings. "You pretending to be interested in making plans does nothing but make me feel terrible because you made it perfectly clear it's not the right time _again_. Putting an act in front of your mom is just giving her false hope of planning the dream wedding that won't be happening six months from now."

"Okay, I am getting sick of being the bad guy here, April. All I did was be honest with you about how I felt and you keep throwing it back in my face like I shouldn't have said anything," he retorted. "When I'm not honest with you you're upset. When I _am_ honest with you you're upset! I'm in a lose-lose situation with you!"

April threw her arms up in frustration. "I'm not mad at you for being honest with me! I'm mad because you somewhat made plans with your mother, despite the fact that you're not ready to get married." She reached for the zipper on the back of her dress as she walked towards their closet. "Maybe I wish I was pregnant. Then, you'd be forced to marry me."

He rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "_Forced_ to marry you? You're making it sound like I don't want to ever marry you and that's not the case at all. What's wrong with waiting a little longer?"

She stood in the doorway in her underwear. "In some cases, waiting too long means it'll never happen. I don't want to be that couple who drifts apart because we waited too long. There are times when it feels like it's already becoming that way."

"We're not drifting apart. I'll admit that our relationship has changed a bit, but mainly because we're trying to get used to not seeing each other all day. Since our intern year, we saw each other more than we saw our apartments and after you got- well… you know, it's been different."

"So you have no regrets proposing to me after six months of dating?"

Jackson slightly smiled as he stood up and approached April. He playfully picked her up, eliciting a giggle from her as he spun around in a circle. "None," he firmly stated before pressing his lips to hers.

_Screw you, rough patch_. He was confident they would eventually get past it.


	7. Two Steps Back

**Thanks for the reviews! Parts of this chapter is based on 6x08 with some dialogue taken from the episode.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Two weeks had passed since Mama Avery's unexpected visit, but her brief appearance created a shift in Jackson and April's relationship. It was neither better nor worse, yet they reached an understanding between each other that they had a lot of work to do if they were ever going to take that giant step into marriage. She had suggested pre-marriage counseling thinking that would encourage him to change his mind about getting married, but he declined. He remained adamant about waiting and he was confident she would land a job soon.

Her interview with the University of Washington went well in her mind. The Chief seemed impressed with her résumé and her enthusiasm. The incident that got her fired from Seattle Grace Mercy West didn't appear to decrease her chances against the other candidates, so she left the interview feeling optimistic about being hired.

But the waiting game was unbearable. She hoped a week and half of not hearing anything wasn't a bad sign. Then again, Trevor informed her that he hadn't heard anything either. There were more than two of them vying for residency spots after all. She needed a distraction to temporarily forget about her worries, so whenever she had the opportunity, she turned to her fiancé. And he certainly didn't mind.

Jackson rolled over onto his back, panting heavily as he stared at the ceiling. "That's an awesome way to wake up in the morning," he amusingly noted. He hadn't expected to be woken up by the redhead's hand inside of his boxers, but he welcomed the lovely surprise. "Sucks I have to be at work in an hour. After what you just did, I almost want to call in sick."

April softly laughed as she brushed aside her messy hair from her face. "No, you have to go to work." She folded her arms and sighed. "Do you think I'll hear anything from U-Dub today?"

"Maybe. Hopefully," he awkwardly replied. He wanted to stay positive, but he also didn't want to give her false hope by being _too_ positive. "Don't stress out about it, okay? Try to relax and think about other things. What are you and Trev doing today?"

She quickly shrugged. "I'm not sure. He's been stressing out over waiting just as much as I am. Our futures rely on this U-Dub job. We're so tired of not having a job. I'm tired of lying to my parents too. I _need_ this job, Jackson."

Jackson scooted closer to his fiancée and propped himself up with his elbow. "And you'll get it," he assured her with a kiss. "I have faith in you. You'll get that job and we'll celebrate with a lot of sex when you do."

"You won't leave me if I don't?"

"No, what makes you think that?" he asked, slightly furrowing his eyebrows.

"Nothing. I'm just being an idiot," she insisted, sadly smiling at him. "You know I tend to say ridiculous things."

He stroked her cheek with his thumb and gently kissed her on the lips. "And I still love you regardless." After climbing out of bed, Jackson walked into their bathroom. "Do you want to join me in the shower?"

Normally, April wouldn't need time to make that decision, but she decided to give him a break. "Not this time, babe. Otherwise, you'll never make it to the hospital," she teased.

Her fiancé stuck his head out of the bathroom after he turned on the shower. "Do I have to come out there and get you?" he threatened her with a playful tone. Jackson stood in the doorway placing his hands on his hips. "I am naked."

"I've seen you naked hundreds of times," she retorted, sticking her tongue out at him and giggling.

"Okay, I honestly hoped it wouldn't come to this," he warned and approached her. Jackson smugly grinned as she pulled the blanket over her head and squealed. He yanked the covers away from her and picked her up, holding her against his shoulder. "You need to clean up too, you know."

April lightly slapped his back on their way into the bathroom. "If you're late for work, it's not my fault."

"I'll take full responsibility for it," he proudly responded and escorted her into their shower.

* * *

Being at the hospital gave Jackson a sense of freedom. He was a doctor and his mind was generally focused on the medicine, not worrying about how April was doing at home. It wasn't that he didn't want to think about her while he worked, but the little distractions in their personal lives were enough for him to make a simple mistake. He learned from his fiancée's mistake and he couldn't afford to do the same as the lone bread winner for the two of them.

Blending in with the Seattle Grace doctors ran smoothly for him compared to his other Mercy West colleagues, at least he thought so. Most of the attendings weren't looking at him anymore as the resident from their former rival hospital. He had given them a nice impression of himself, so they found him reliable.

There was one resident who seemed to give him the hardest time, to nobody's surprise. Cristina continued to give him the snarky treatment, shooting him down during friendly conversation and making snide comments about his appearance. According to the Asian woman, Jackson was deemed too pretty to be a doctor. She claimed cardio would forever be hers and that he was wasting his time trying to become the next cardio god.

Her feisty and sarcastic personality was intriguing to him. Although Reed carried the same characteristics, she was more of an obnoxious pseudo sister, but Yang was different. He wasn't sure why he was drawn to her, despite how mean she acted towards him. Jackson hadn't told anybody about his small crush on her. Why would he? It was just a harmless, little crush. Nothing would come out of it, he thought. And thinking about another woman didn't mean he wanted to sleep with her.

Nobody had to know anyway.

Jackson carried his tray to Meredith and Cristina's table in the cafeteria. Charles and Reed were nowhere to be found and he definitely didn't want to be that loner sitting by himself in the corner. He took a seat across from them, drawing strange looks from the two women.

"Why are you sitting here?" Cristina bluntly asked.

"There were empty chairs," he nonchalantly replied, picking up his sandwich and biting into it.

"So? There are also other empty chairs elsewhere," she countered and waved her hand. "Go away, Pretty Boy."

Meredith chuckled, then she smiled at Jackson. "It's fine. You can stay."

He nodded his head to show his gratitude. They had a sense of loyalty towards each other since they first met intern year. Meredith had figured out his connection to Harper Avery and he knew her as Ellis Grey's daughter. Although they hadn't seen each other since she treated him for that gunshot wound, she did remember his face post-merger. She didn't mind Jackson's company because they held a mutual understanding of what it felt like to be related to prestigious surgeons. And his secret was safe with her.

If he could trust anybody from the Seattle Grace side with the secret of his family's legacy, it was Meredith Grey.

She had only recently returned to work following a procedure, in which she gave a portion of her liver to her estranged father, so they hadn't been able to get to know each other better yet. At least she had his back.

"So, our patient fell off of a roof. Fifty two broken bones? Yeesh," Jackson started, hoping to strike up a conversation with his fellow third years.

"Idiot was high," Cristina added. "She had mushrooms in her system, but she's young and wanted to do something outside of all of her academic achievements. Breaking fifty bones, though, was in fact, stupid. Stupid girl."

Meredith smirked at her best friend. "Are you still upset because Owen never paged you last night for her surgery?"

"I should've been in that OR with him and Torres. I mean, I sleep with the guy," she scoffed.

Jackson shifted in his seat listening to them talk about Hunt. He and Cristina were both unavailable, which was perfectly fine with him. But they had a lot in common in his mind. A passion for cardio, first and foremost, and a drive to be the best. Sometimes she was over the top, but it was better to be an overachiever than an underachiever.

Charles and Reed approached their table together. However, they were reluctant to join their friend, especially with the way Meredith and Cristina stared at them like they didn't belong. The pretty boy had been working hard to blend in with their Seattle Grace counterparts at the expense of his friendship with his Mercy West coworkers. The couple weren't sure how to act around him lately.

"Are you lost?" Cristina sneered.

Reed ignored the Asian doctor and turned to face Jackson. "So Charles and I were thinking about having a double date night if you and April aren't busy. We thought we could relive our intern year with those cheesy bowling nights," she suggested. "Are you up for it?"

"Uhh…" He slowly grimaced as he glanced up at his friends. "I think I might be working late tonight. Rain check?"

"Yeah, sure." Charles skeptically replied, rolling his eyes. "Dude, we aren't dense, but we thought you had your priorities straight. What happened to Mercy West forever?"

Jackson raised his eyebrow as his best friend showed him unfamiliar hand signals to spell out the Mercy West initials. "That was never a thing," he insisted with a smirk. "Yeah, I'm pretty certain we never had a special hand thing – ever."

The burly man pursed his lips, then he decided to change the subject. "Anyway, did you hear? Trev got one of the residency spots at U-Dub," he announced with a wide grin. "Has April heard from them?"

He shook his head. "No, not yet. She'll get in."

"April's the one who got fired, right?" Meredith asked curiously. "Your fiancée?"

"We try not to talk about the getting fired part," Jackson bitterly answered, taking another bite out of his sandwich. He took his cell phone out of his pocket to check for any missed calls or text messages from April. Nothing, but he was confident he would be the first to learn of any news from her. "She won't be unemployed for long, though."

Reed half-smiled at her friend. "Hopefully," she agreed before looking back at her boyfriend. "C'mon, Charles. Let's go find a table."

"You two can sit here," their pretty eyed friend offered, pointing at the empty seats.

"No, it's fine. We know when we're not wanted," she declined and walked away from the table.

Jackson frowned as Charles followed Reed to another table nearby. Not only did he look like an ass but he felt like one as well. He didn't mean to push his friends away, yet that was exactly what he had done. Who was he kidding? His friends had always been loyal to him and he acted like they were the lame kids at school. Without April and Trevor around, losing the support of his two closest friends would be a bad move.

"So you're pretty and you're a dick," Cristina teasingly chimed in, drawing a scowl from him.

He slumped his shoulders and stared down at his lunch while he ate. "Shut up."

* * *

Jackson walked into the scrub room prepared to assist Hunt and Torres for a surgery involving their patient who fell off of a roof. They would be working on one of many surgeries, starting with her fractured femur. Just as he was about to wash his hands at the sink, he felt a vibration in his pocket. Pulling his cell phone out, he found a new text message from April and didn't hesitate to open it.

_PLEASE CALL ME ASAP!_

A wide grin formed on his face as he slipped his cell phone back into his pocket. The urgent text message meant his fiancée had received news from U-Dub. All caps always screamed good news from her, so he could relax knowing she most likely got the job. Because the surgery was scheduled to begin in five minutes, he needed to scrub in. As soon as the surgery was over, he would give her a call to congratulate her.

"What are you so slap happy about?" Cristina inquired after she entered the scrub room. She stood beside Jackson and began washing her hands. "Did you finally score that modeling contract with Abercrombie & Fitch?"

"No," he muttered. "My fiancée got hired at U-Dub. I mean, she hasn't directly told me, but I'm pretty sure that's what it is. She just sent me a text with a bunch of exclamation points. That usually means she's excited, so I'll call her later."

She quickly shrugged. "Good for her. Too bad U-Dub's program isn't as badass as Seattle Grace."

"I'm just relieved she found a job. She deserves one," he replied defensively. "It's not like she's the first surgeon to ever accidentally kill a patient for missing a step. April is a good surgeon regardless of what happened that night."

"When are you two getting hitched? Not that I care all that much," Cristina asked, mischievously smiling to herself.

"Umm… not anytime soon," Jackson reluctantly answered. "I decided we should postpone it a little longer."

"And how long have you been stalling?"

He bit down on his bottom lip, then he sighed. "About two years now."

Cristina chuckled. "You're getting cold feet, aren't you?" she taunted as she scrubbed her forearms. "Is there another woman? Is that why you won't marry her soon?"

Jackson nervously swallowed and remained quiet. He wasn't cheating on April, but he couldn't admit that he had been thinking about someone else, especially when that other woman was the person standing beside him. "No," he murmured. "The timing isn't right, that's all."

"Which basically translates to cold feet," she noted, picking up a towel to dry her hands. Cristina tossed the towel into a bin before walking towards the sliding door. "Don't choke now, Pretty Boy."

He rolled his eyes as he finished drying his hands. Joining the other surgeons and staff inside of the OR, he asked a nurse to remove his cell phone from his pocket and set it on the nearby cart beside the other phones. He was helped into a surgical gown and stood beside Callie Torres, ready and prepped with the suction tool.

The surgery had been running smoothly. The orthopedic surgeon successfully inserted a nail into the femur to keep the femoral neck intact, but seconds later, one of the monitors started beeping rapidly. Cristina realized it was a heart problem, an air embolism that she claimed she could aspirate in less than a minute.

"No, no. We wait for cardio and we try to find the source," Owen instructed.

"No, it'll take me thirty seconds. It might take cardio a half an hour to get here," the third year resident argued.

"Dr. Yang-"

"I've done this before. I know what I'm doing," Cristina insisted. "She could arrest at any moment."

"Dr. Yang, no. End of discussion," the Chief of Trauma sternly replied.

Jackson silently watched as his coworker disobeyed orders and opted to perform a thoracotomy herself. The Asian woman had mentioned a minute earlier that she could do whatever she wanted whenever she pleased growing up. It was like she set her own rules for herself, including in the OR. He knew since their first encounter that she was a hardcore surgeon and being a third year resident didn't hold her back. She was different from all of the other residents he had worked with at Mercy West.

"Turn on the fluoro," she ordered, referring to the fluoroscopic machine while picking up a scalpel.

"Dr. Yang!" Owen angrily stated.

"Someone please step on the floor or do you want me to go in blind?"

"Dr. Yang, put down that scalpel!" he yelled.

By then, Cristina figured the only person in the OR who would have her back was Jackson. She made eye contact with him hoping he would offer some support, despite how rude she constantly acted towards him. In a matter of seconds, he decided to rebel and follow her instructions. He rushed over to Hunt's side and stepped on the pedal to turn on the fluoroscopic machine. The screens showed a clear picture of the inside of their patient's chest cavity, allowing her to perform the procedure.

"Thank you," she politely responded.

Jackson watched her intently as she cut open their patient's left chest. Cristina was driven and confident in what she was doing and didn't hesitate once. Just like she claimed, she managed to deal with the air embolism in about thirty seconds. Piece of cake. The cardio attending that had been paged arrived after she finished her job.

Freaking badass. And she had trusted him enough to ask for help. Maybe Yang didn't hate him as much as he assumed she did.

* * *

After the surgery, Jackson joined Reed in the Pediatrics ward. He was in an upbeat mood for a variety reasons and he wanted to share his joy with somebody. First, he needed to apologize to his friend for how he acted towards her and Charles during lunch.

"Hey," he greeted her as he grabbed a gown. Reed failed to respond while she tied the back of her own gown. "The silent treatment? Seriously? C'mon, I'm sorry for being an ass earlier. I think we definitely should go bowling tonight. We need to celebrate."

"Celebrate what? You being an ass?" she quipped.

Jackson playfully rolled his eyes. "Fine. I deserved that, but I'm serious. We have to celebrate for April."

The brunette woman's face lit up. "April got the U-Dub job too?" she excitedly questioned. "I haven't had the time to call her because I've been so busy running around and checking on babies – and also making fun of Karev because Dr. Bailey forced him to take his shirt off to save a preemie. You talked to her?"

"Actually, I haven't yet. I meant to call her after my surgery, but I decided to wait until I get home to congratulate her in person. She sent me a text telling me to call her. I'm sure she's doing something with Trevor right now. I'll let them celebrate together first," he explained, grinning brightly. "And one of the most badass things happened in the OR today. Yang went against Hunt's orders and performed a thoracotomy on our patient by herself. Nobody at Mercy West ever dared to do that, not even Swanson."

"That's because all of the attendings disgustingly loved Swanson, so she had no problem performing solos by herself," Reed scoffed and softly laughed. "I don't understand how residents at this hospital can get away with so much crap. It feels like a circus in here sometimes."

"Who cares? Yang didn't kill the patient. She did the complete opposite," Jackson countered. "I don't know. Had we waited for the cardio attending to show up, anything could've happened. Nothing went wrong. It was ballsy. I wish I had those kind of balls."

"So she rebelled, which isn't shocking. Big whoop," his friend unenthusiastically responded.

"You should've seen Yang in that surgery. She was fearless," he gushed. "And it was hot."

Reed suspiciously raised her eyebrow at Jackson. "It was _hot_?" She folded her arms as she slowly processed his choice of words in her head. Everything began to make more sense to her. The reason why he regularly hung out with the Seattle Grace doctors and tried to impress them was because of one specific doctor. She gasped and slapped his shoulder. "You have feelings for Cristina Yang?!"

He frantically waved his arms. "No, I don't!" he denied. "I wouldn't call them _feelings_."

She scowled back at him. "But you've been thinking about her and not in the way I think about her. Is that why you don't want to marry April? Because you have another woman on your mind?"

"Hey, I never said I didn't want to marry April," he retorted. "For the past two years, all I've thought about was April. Not once did I ever think of other women until lately. There's nothing wrong with that, Reed. I'm not eager to cheat on her if that's what you're thinking. I can't think of another woman?"

"No, you can't!" Reed scolded him. "You're engaged, you idiot! Do you honestly believe April would be fine with you thinking about other women even if you don't want to sleep with them? Of course not! She'll be crushed. She'll assume you're having second thoughts about her."

Jackson pointed at himself. "But I'm not." He closed his eyes and sighed. "It's different here. When I'm not at home I feel less stressed out. Things haven't been fine and dandy between us all the time. Ever since I told her we should postpone the wedding again, we've fought more than usual."

"Yes, I'm fully aware of all of this. I'm her best friend, remember?"

He ran his hand across the top of his shaved head as he opened his eyes. "The merger changed things. We've been around new people and I couldn't help it."

"You couldn't help it," she repeated, shaking her head disappointedly. "I thought you would've learned your lesson after the crap with Swanson, but I suppose this is different because you didn't have feelings for her like you do with Yang. And let's be real here, of all people to fall for, you fall for _her_?"

"We're both interested in cardio. It just freaking happened!"

Reed raised her hand in front of her chest to force him to stop talking. She used all of her will power not to pounce on her friend and throw a few punches at his pretty face. "It seems you're not aware of this, but newsflash, Jackson – Yang thinks you're a moron! She makes fun of you every chance she gets because she thinks you're annoying," she harshly admitted. "And you're trying way too hard to fit in with their group. You look like a sad, pathetic wannabe."

Jackson desperately wanted to staple her mouth shut. It didn't matter to him if she was right. He was hardly interested in what she had to say 50% of the time. "Are you done?" he impatiently asked. "We have patients to check on."

"No, I'm not done," she agitatedly replied. "You have to tell April about this."

"Are you kidding me right now?"

"If she found herself crushing on another guy, she would confess in a heartbeat because she's the type of person who can't lie to you," Reed insisted. "I don't care nor do I want to know how long you've been crushing on Yang, but you have to tell her the truth, Jackson. I'll do it myself if you don't."

"You wouldn't," he doubtfully stated. "You wouldn't screw me over like that."

"Well, I wouldn't screw over April by hiding this from her," she proclaimed.

Jackson clenched his jaw as he avoided Reed's death stare. If April were to find out about his crush on Cristina, he would want her to hear it from him and nobody else. He didn't trust his friend to tell the redhead the whole truth. Reed was one to exaggerate her stories at times. She would probably convince his fiancée to turn on him instantly, he thought.

He found himself in an ugly lose-lose situation. Choosing to hide the truth from April meant Reed would eventually spill the beans, yet straightforwardly telling her could also lead to bad results. They made a promise to each other to be honest with everything, but this was the one moment when he wished they hadn't.

* * *

Entering their apartment, Jackson walked into a very quiet living room. It was half past nine at night and he found April sitting down on the couch. The TV was off, so it was obvious she had been waiting for him. He approached her, noticing an empty wine glass and an open bottle on the coffee table. However, what disturbed him more was the distraught expression on his fiancée's face. Her eyes appeared puffy like she had been crying.

Did Reed go against her word and tell April about his crush on another woman?

He immediately sat across from her on the coffee table, placing his hands on top of her knees. "April, I am so sorry for not calling you sooner. I wanted to wait until I got home to celebrate with you," he apologized, rubbing smooth circles on her knee with his thumb. "Look, I think I know why you've been crying, so let me explain myself. I'm not sure what Reed told you, but nothing happened. Yes, I've… been thinking about another woman, but it never went past that. And I wasn't crushing on someone else because we've been fighting. I don't know how to explain it, but I love _you_."

April slowly glanced up at Jackson, making eye contact with him. "You've been thinking about another woman?"

He felt a huge lump in the back of his throat. Perhaps Reed hadn't broken the news to her best friend after all. It didn't take him long to realize that he might have just screwed up majorly. "Wait. Why are you crying?"

"I didn't get the job," she sullenly announced, wiping away a tear with the back of her hand. "It came down to Trevor and I for the last spot and they gave it to him. That's why I wanted you to call me as soon as possible because I needed somebody to tell me everything would be alright, but apparently, you were too busy thinking about another woman."

Jackson shook his head. "It wasn't like that. I thought… I thought you did get the job. I had no idea," he regretfully said, frowning back at her. His fiancée refused to look at him as more tears flowed down her face. "April, I'm sorry. I was convinced Reed told you and that's why you were upset."

"She didn't tell me anything." The redhead cleared her throat and took a deep breath. "Who is she? Do I know her?"

"Does it really matter? I don't want to be with this person."

"Of course, it matters!" April sternly replied. "Is she someone from work? Or a random woman you spotted on the streets? You can't assume I'll be okay with this, Jackson! Who is it?"

Rubbing the back of his neck, Jackson sighed. "Cristina Yang."

Her mouth dropped open, then she scrunched her face in confused. "_Yang_?" She laughed to herself, wiping away her tears with her hands again. "You know things have gone bad when you're crushing on Cristina Yang. I don't know her very well, but I know she's far from your type."

He reached for her hand, but she moved it away. "April, please."

April pinched the bridge of her nose as she shut her eyes. "We need a break," she declared. "We can't be together if you're starting to think about other women. Maybe you need time to reevaluate your feelings and then you can decide if I'm the one you want a future with."

Jackson furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't want or need a break from you."

"Well, I do." She stood up and walked past him. "I don't care where you stay, but I don't want you here."

"April, don't do this," he begged, following her out of the living room. She walked into the guest bedroom, closing the door behind her and locking it before he could stop her. He pressed his forehead against the door and knocked. "Can we talk about this, please?"

"I think I've said everything I needed to say," April tearfully answered from the opposite side of the door. "Leave, Jackson. You need to go. Please, just go away."

He knew she wouldn't come out of the bedroom unless he followed her orders. After heading into their bedroom, Jackson grabbed his gym bag from under the bed and packed some of his clothes inside. He couldn't believe their relationship had crumbled like it did and he never imagined they would end this way. Miserable was an understatement. Words couldn't describe the anguish he felt inside.

When he finished packing he quietly left their apartment and drove to the one place he hoped would take him in. The pretty boy knocked on the door of Charles and Reed's place and waited for an answer.

Seconds later, his best friend opened the door. Charles noticed Jackson's glossy eyes immediately, but he could tell he was fighting back his tears as hard as he could. And the gym bag in his hand wasn't a good sign. He had never seen the man so broken before even when they were roommates. "Dude, Avery. I uhh… Reed kind of told me about… well, I think she's on the phone with April right now."

"Do you think I could-" The normally composed man shut his eyes, rubbing them with his thumb and index finger. Jackson refused to cry in front of his closest friend. He cleared his throat and opened his eyes. "Do you think I could stay here for a little while?"

Charles sadly smiled and nodded, waving his arm and inviting him into his apartment. "Get in here, man." He patted Jackson's back as he walked into his home. Reed probably wasn't going to like the idea of him staying there, but he couldn't leave his friend hanging out to dry. "It's one of those small breaks, right? I mean, you two will work things out eventually."

"I don't know," he muttered, plopping down onto the couch. As much as he hated to admit it, reality slowly began to sink in for him. "I think it's over."

* * *

**Yes, they're in a bad place right now, but it's all about the journey, folks ;) Let me know what you think please!**


	8. Pretty Boy Blues

**Thank you for the reviews! I know I'm not the only one frustrated with Jackson on the show, but drunk April made up for that lackluster episode :)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"I can't take it anymore. I'm about to lose my mind," Reed agitatedly whispered to Charles in their kitchen. She folded her arms, leaning back against the counter as she took a quick glimpse of Jackson sitting on the couch. "Three weeks he's been staying here. _Three_ weeks! Three _days_ were unbearable enough for me."

Almost a full month had passed since April decided to break up with Jackson and none of their friends had anticipated the aftermath that came with it. Reed, Charles and Trevor believed their break would last no more than a week, but it was easier said than done. The lack of communication between the two broken lovers made it worse than the first time they had taken a break during their intern year.

It was a major fallout this time. A quick fix wasn't going to work.

Especially when Jackson moped around like a dog who had lost its owner. The man was miserable and it showed on his face. He hadn't shaved since a week prior to April dumping him, so his normally pretty face was covered with a thick layer of hair, a full-grown beard. The short stubble look had been a favorite of the redhead's and many other women, but he was beyond that. His beard was scruffy and longer than he had ever grown it. He had even let the hair on his head grow out a little.

He was almost unrecognizable, even to his Seattle Grace peers at the hospital.

_"Going Amish on us, Avery?" Cristina quipped when his beard first became more noticeable._

The teasing and the stares barely fazed Jackson. He mainly kept to himself at work, quietly following attendings' orders and scrubbing in when he was asked to. However, his appearance alone had turned off a number of them. His attitude wasn't terrible, but his enthusiasm was lacking. Charles and Reed had warned him to step it up because the hospital continued making cuts post-merger.

At home, it was a different story. For a person who always appeared clean and proper, he was a slob. Reed was actually grateful that April wasn't speaking to him because the sight of her ex-fiancé was embarrassing. He mostly spent his off time occupying the couch with piles of junk food and he hadn't been to the gym in about two weeks.

The moping had been understandable during the first week, but now, it was pathetic and Reed had had enough of it. On the other hand, Charles continued to be the more sympathetic one between the two of them. His best friend was in shambles and he tried his best to be supportive of him.

"The guy has a broken heart," he calmly argued. "Kepner's not talking to him and he just needs time to recover."

"Three weeks, Charlie," his girlfriend reminded him. "I never say this, but Jackson's gross. He's actually disgusting and I only reserve that judgment for _you_. We should consider ourselves lucky that he remembers to shower every other day."

"He's in a funk. He'll get out of it soon."

Reed rolled her eyes and softly groaned. She felt like she was talking to a brick wall. No matter what arguments she used against Jackson, Charles deflected them and made excuses for their friend. "A funk he will never climb out of if we just sit back and watch him turn into a lazy pig," she retorted. "And before you ask, I am not going to call April and force her to talk to him."

"Well, what do you want me to do?"

"Take him out. Have a guys night out with Trevor. Just do something for Jackson because his presence alone is bothering the shit out of me. I'm tired of babysitting his mopey ass," she replied in frustration. "He was only supposed to stay here for a couple of days, so deal with him, Charles. Grow a pair and in the meantime, help him find his own balls. I'm very close to stabbing him with the largest knife we have in this kitchen."

Charles raised his hands in front of his chest. "Okay, okay. Calm down, Lady Death. I'll handle this." He approached his best friend in the living room and stood in front of the TV. Jackson blankly stared at him in nothing but his boxers. His feet were resting on top of the coffee table and there were crumbs stuck in his beard. "Dude, you look like shit."

"Yeah, well… I feel like it too," the not so pretty boy murmured. "Do you mind stepping aside? Harvard's on a first and goal right now."

"No way, man." The burly man picked up the remote and turned off the TV, to Jackson's dismay. He folded his arms as his friend scowled back at him. "You're a mess. I get that, but I'm also not getting any from Reed because she's too busy bitching about how disgusting you are. This hobo look stops now. Get up, shave your face and take a shower. I'm calling Trev and the three of us are going out tonight. Guys only."

Jackson dismissively waved his hand. "I'm not in the mood to go out."

Charles looked back at Reed, who simply turned around and pretended she couldn't hear their conversation. He was on his own. "Avery, do you honestly believe April would want you in the current state you're in? Of course not. She would be completely turned off. Hell, I'm turned off and it takes a lot for me to feel that way about a _guy_."

He rubbed his palm along his rugged face and sighed. "April doesn't want me at all, so who cares?"

"Now you're just talking out of your ass," he scoffed. Charles dragged the coffee table away from the couch causing Jackson's feet to land on the floor. He walked around to the back of the couch, reaching down and grasping the bottom. Being a big guy, he lifted the couch, enough to tilt it forward and force his friend to slide off. A loud thump on the floor let him know he had been successful. "Do I gotta carry you to the shower too? Or does Reed have to hold you at knifepoint for you to clean yourself up?"

"Fuck you, I'll do it myself," Jackson muttered, pushing himself up from the floor. He shot a glare at his two friends on his way to the bathroom.

Shutting the door behind him, he stood in front of the mirror and stared at himself. His bluish-green eyes looked dead, like something had sucked the color out of them. And his disheveled appearance was unflattering. If Catherine had seen him this way, she most likely would have disowned him for not looking like an Avery. She would be even more disappointed that he and April were on a break. There was no way in hell he was going to tell his family about their separation. He doubted she told her own family about the situation too. Christmas was in two and a half weeks. The Averys and Kepners would be gathering in Seattle for the first time, probably expecting a boatload full of news for their upcoming wedding that wasn't happening.

_Shit_, he thought to himself. Christmas was April's favorite holiday. The last thing he wanted was to see her unhappy on December 25th in front of their families. It was a disaster waiting to happen if they couldn't be civil with each other by then.

Jackson frowned as he continued to stare at the mirror. He missed April more than he ever imagined. They hadn't spoken in the past three weeks because he couldn't find the courage to pick up the phone and call her. Whenever he went to their apartment to fetch clean clothes, she wasn't home. Reed refused to give him updates on her.

_"Just let her be," she advised. "She'll talk to you when she's ready."_

Whatever she was doing, he hoped she at least thought about him every day. There wasn't a day that had gone by when he didn't think about her.

Charles and Reed were right. He looked downright disgusting and it was depressing to know he had finally hit rock bottom. His face unfortunately showed it. So did his ugly ass beard.

Taking the electric clipper out of a drawer, the pretty boy decided it was time to stop sulking and work on patching up his relationship with April. No more taking her for granted. He wanted to marry that woman, but first, he needed to clean up his act.

Starting with the dirty beard.

* * *

April spent the first few days of the break up bawling her eyes out. However, a talk with Reed helped her realized that curling up in bed and crying all day wasn't going to make her feel better. Her best friend had visited her apartment after her shifts, so she wouldn't be alone all night. She sometimes spent the night, so she wouldn't have to deal with mopey Jackson.

_"You won't accomplish anything if you're just lying around and crying over a guy," Reed noted. "Be strong for yourself. People will assume you can't do anything on your own, that you need to depend on Jackson for everything. Show them you're an independent woman."_

That was the moment she had come to the realization that maybe she _was_ depending on Jackson's support too much. While the redhead believed they were equals in their relationship, lately it felt as if he had all of the power and she simply relied on it. He was the one with the job, he was the person calling all of the shots for their wedding. Why didn't she grow a bigger backbone when she should have?

As awful as it sounded in her head, perhaps asking for a break was the best decision for the both of them. She wanted another job badly, so following her post-break up phase, she applied to as many hospitals as she could. It didn't matter where as long as somebody reached out to her. After a week of waiting to hear from anybody, her plan had worked.

Georgetown, UVA and the University of North Carolina scheduled interviews with her. All East coast hospitals, but there was little room to be picky now. She was falling behind all of the third year residents and she needed to catch up fast or risk repeating her third year of residency altogether. Leaving Seattle hadn't been her preference, but none of the hospitals she applied to in the area had room for her – or they found better candidates, which was disheartening.

Scoring interviews elsewhere was enough to boost her confidence. April wasn't moping around and feeling sorry for herself anymore. She felt more in control of her life now. Without someone to depend on, she knew whatever decision she made would be all on her.

Her father always said: "If you go in with a positive attitude, you'll come out with positive results."

Big Joe Kepner was a wise man. However, deep inside she felt she was failing her father by hiding two major lies from him and the rest of her family. She hoped by Christmastime, there would be some sort of good news to share with them.

Strolling through the baking aisle of the grocery store, April grabbed four pie pans and set them in her cart. She wanted to get a head start in planning Christmas dinner and carried a long list of every ingredient she needed. Her parents, Libby and her husband plus their two little children, Kimmie and her fiancé and baby sister Alice were all visiting Seattle for the holidays. On the Avery side, Catherine, Harper Avery and Jackson's sisters would be joining them. The first meeting between the two families would either be a success or a catastrophe.

If it was the latter, the food at least better be delicious. She decided to create a dinner based on Karen's recipes, something that was difficult to do because her mother was very precise about how certain ingredients were used.

Turning the corner of the aisle, she accidentally bumped carts with another customer. "Oh, excuse me. Sorry about that," she acknowledged, doing a double take when she recognized the man in front of her. "Zach?"

"April, how's it going?" the nurse happily greeted her.

Zach Jacobs, also known as Nurse Rock Star to April and her friends due to his musical talents, was the only boyfriend she had at Mercy West before she dated Jackson. The handsome nurse remained exactly that – handsome. He was a sweet man, but their friendship had taken a dip after the pretty boy broke his tailbone during what should have been a friendly game of flag football between the surgical interns and the nurses. They often ran into each other at work when Mercy West was still its own hospital, but she had no idea where he currently worked now.

"I'm… doing great," she replied, forcing a smile. "Umm, how about you? I don't recall seeing you around after the merger."

"As soon as I heard the news about the merger, I started searching for another job. I managed to transfer to Seattle Children's Hospital when cuts were being made, so I got lucky," he explained.

"Oh, how do you like it there?"

"It's pretty awesome. I don't have to deal with grumpy, old patients over there. I also don't have to listen to a very bossy blonde surgeon tell me how to do my job," Zach answered with a smirk. "Less stressful, in my opinion."

April softly laughed. Despite pairing him up with Swanson at the end of her intern year, she wasn't surprised that they didn't last. The cardiothoracic surgeon was domineering and pompous, but she hoped Zach's politeness and charm would have changed her attitude a little bit. "I'm sorry you two didn't work out," she half-heartedly stated.

"Nah, don't be. Splitting up with her was the greatest decision of my life," he quipped, sharing a laugh with the redhead. "Dating Valerie for four months was probably too long for my taste. I don't know. She just wanted everything to be her way and I grew tired of it. What about you? How are you and Avery?"

The one topic she wanted to avoid was brought up. Of course he never forgot about her relationship with Jackson. Her ex-fiancé was responsible for her and Zach's break up. The nurse had been intimidated by him and chose to end things with her. It was only about a month of dating, but it still hurt nonetheless.

"Actually, umm…" April nervously bit down on her bottom lip. Her fingers reached for her left ring finger to twist her engagement ring back and forth until she remembered she wasn't wearing it anymore. She sheepishly looked down at her naked finger and sighed. "We're currently on a break from each other."

He twitched his eyebrows in response. "Oh?"

She slightly smiled at him. "It's a long story."

Zach nodded and tapped his fingers against the handlebar of his cart. "You don't have to share that with me. Whatever it is, I'm sure you'll overcome it. I mean, Avery treated you like a goddess from what I recall." He shrugged his shoulders and awkwardly smiled. "He broke my ass for you."

"Gosh, that was so embarrassing. At the time, I didn't know Jackson had feelings for me," she admitted with a grimace. "But is your ass okay now? You don't walk with a limp anymore?"

"April, that accident happened three years ago. I've been fine for a long time now."

"Right," she chuckled. "Do you want to have dinner tonight?"

April's eyes widened shortly afterwards. Confidence overload. She didn't mean to ask Nurse Rock Star out on a date, but rather a friendly get together. Definitely not a date. Three weeks apart from Jackson, dating another man wasn't in her future plans. Of course she still loved him. Her feelings for him would never dissipate, but they weren't together and she never said they couldn't see other people.

But again, it wasn't meant to be a date. She hoped Zach understood that.

"Dinner as in… just dinner?" he curiously questioned.

"Y-yes. It gives us a chance to catch up," she confirmed. "Just dinner."

"Just dinner sounds great," he concurred and smiled at her. "How about I make reservations at the Purple Café? Is 8:30 an ideal time for you?"

April nodded. "That's perfect."

_It wasn't like I had anything better to do with my Saturday night_, she mentally added.

"Alright, so I'll meet you in front of the restaurant?" He watched her nod again, then he pushed his cart past her. "See you tonight. It's nice seeing you again, April."

"You too."

Walking the opposite direction, April turned into another aisle feeling a mixture of relief and excitement. She had plans… with another man, an ex-boyfriend no less. But it wasn't anything special. It was two friends meeting up for dinner and nothing more. She knew, though, that if Jackson found out about her plans, he wouldn't be a happy camper. Then again, if he was in her shoes and he had dinner with another woman, she would be upset too.

It was best if she kept her plans to herself just this once.

* * *

"You want another beer, Avery?" Charles inquired as he watched his best friend chug down his second round of beer. For guys night out, he and Trevor brought him to their old Mercy West stomping grounds at Schmo's.

Clean shaven and looking like his old, pretty self again, Jackson set his mug on the table and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Alcohol was simply an easy excuse for him to temporarily forget about his troubles, but almost everything in the bar reminded him of April. Before the merger, they had shared countless memories at the pub and he could pinpoint specific areas that had significant meaning to him.

"See that jukebox? A4 was our song," he pointedly said. "We probably danced to it a thousand times."

Trevor stared at his friend with a puzzled expression on his face. "You and April had a song? Since when?"

"Since forever, man. Where have you been?" Jackson left their table and approached the jukebox. He lazily inserted a quarter and pressed the buttons to his song. After he returned to the table, the song began to play. "You've heard this before. I'm sure you'll remember we had a song when you listen to the lyrics."

Charles fought back his laugh when he recognized the song. "Yours and April's song was 'I Touch Myself' by the Divinyls?" he asked amusingly.

"What? No!" he angrily shouted, pounding his fist against the table. "It- it's supposed to be the Pretenders' 'I'll Stand By You', not this bullcrap!"

"Obviously, they changed the song lists since the last time we drank here," the burly man implied, grinning widely at Jackson. He patted his friend's shoulder as he poured more beer into his mug. "But you know what? This song is fitting right now because you're not getting laid."

"I thought tonight was supposed to make me feel better," he retorted. "You're only making me feel like shit all over again."

"Cut him some slack, Percy," Trevor defensively replied. "Don't rub their break up in his face."

Jackson wished he could thank Trevor for having his back, but he partially resented him for getting the U-Dub job over April. At the same time, blaming him for her losing out was childish. Neither of them knew the last residency spot would come down to that. And to be fair, his buddy had been unemployed longer, so it was about time he found another job. Still, he couldn't help but feel bitter towards him.

He sipped his newly refilled mug as his eyes scanned the bar. There were plenty of attractive women to flirt with, but he already felt guilty just thinking about possibly flirting with any of them. The only woman he wanted to work his charm with was the beautiful redhead he hadn't seen in three weeks. He spotted a redheaded woman who looked nothing like April, yet the hair alone dampened his already bad mood.

"I want to call her," he declared, taking his cell phone out of his jacket pocket. "I'm gonna call her, tell her that I'm sorry and hope she'll forgive me for being a dick."

"Not when you're already buzzed," Trevor disagreed, seizing Jackson's phone away from him. "Who knows what you'll actually tell her? Your mouth and your mind aren't exactly on the same page at the moment."

The pretty boy scowled at his friend. "Give me back my damn phone," he ordered. "I screwed up, so I have to fix this."

"When you're sober, Avery," the brunette man insisted, standing his ground. "You don't want to do anything stupid and make matters worse between you two."

"Fine, whatever." Jackson picked up his mug and finished his beer quickly. He reached for the pitcher to pour himself another drink. "We're gonna need a refill of this. I'm just getting started."

* * *

Sitting across from Zach at the Purple Café, April casually smiled as she listened to the nurse tell her a story about one of the children he treated recently. Something about singing to the kid to distract him from the needle he was required to prick him with to draw blood. It sounded adorable, especially when she briefly remembered how cute his singing voice was. She persisted on asking him questions about his job since she didn't have any stories to tell him.

Unless, he was interested in listening to her ramble about how she got fired from Seattle Grace Mercy West.

Their dinner was exactly how she expected it to be – friendly. She wore a light yellow blouse with a green sweater over it and black, skinny jeans. He donned a white collared shirt and dark blue jeans. They were casual and laid back in a "just dinner" environment.

"How's the workplace at Seattle Grace Mercy West?" Zach questioned. "A friend of mine who works there said it was a madhouse during the first month of the merger. Heard it got extremely competitive."

"Well, you didn't hear wrong. People were fighting for their jobs and even played ugly to outdo each other." April took a deep breath and sighed. She grabbed her glass of water, taking a sip before she decided to tell him the truth. "I… I was one of the unfortunate surgeons let go."

He slightly furrowed his eyebrows, surprised that she was fired. "How is that possible? You've been one of the best residents in the Mercy West program and I'm saying this as an observer. I always assumed you knew what you were doing."

She slowly shrugged her shoulders. "I used to assume that too until I missed a step during a standard examination and killed a patient. It can't get worse than that."

"What are you doing now?"

"Job hunting. I actually have interviews with three different hospitals this week in a span of five days. I leave for Virginia tomorrow afternoon," she chirped. "I'm looking forward to it."

"That's good. I'm glad you're happy about it, but you want to leave Seattle? Is it because of whatever happened between you and Jackson?"

April pursed her lips at the question. She never really thought about her potential East coast jobs as an excuse to run away from Jackson. If anything, she hoped there would be a job offer that was much closer to him whether it was in Oregon or California, but the hospitals interested in her were all across the country and she had no control of where they were located.

She had already somewhat left him, but physically leaving him to move over 2,000 miles away wasn't something she wanted to do. Nobody needed to ask her how she thought he would react to her leaving Seattle. He would be devastated.

"I still love him very much," she softly answered, gazing down at her half-eaten meal. "We… we just need time apart. I want to focus on finding another job and he… well, he has his own priorities."

"I envy that guy," Zach bashfully confessed. "I'm sure I'm not the only one."

"Why do you think that?"

He gestured his hand towards her. "Because he got inside your head before I could. Maybe if Jackson never came to Mercy West, you and I would have had a chance together."

That was a realistic possibility, she thought. While her parents adored Jackson, the nurse would likely leave a lasting impression on them as well. Her mother probably wouldn't be fond of Zach's tribal tattoo, but aside from that, she would love him. A bunch of 'What if's' ran through her mind. What if the pretty boy who swept her away never came to Seattle?

Maybe she and Zach would already be married, possibly a baby in tow. He was simple compared to Jackson. Their relationship would have been easy.

But she wasn't attracted to easy. Her mind always returned to Jackson.

"That might be true, but since Jackson did come to Mercy West, I think it's a bit silly speculating about things that won't happen." April forced herself to laugh when she noticed the disappointed look on Zach's face. "I'm sorry. You're a great guy. You really are, but… I love Jackson. It's hard for me to think about 'What if' scenarios when he's still very important to me."

"I understand," he murmured, a sad smile forming on his face. "But can I still call him a lucky son of a bitch?"

She softly chuckled and sighed. "I'll let it slide just this once. However, I won't let you talk crap about him for the rest of dinner, okay?"

"That's fine with me."

April let out a sigh of relief. She was convinced talking about Jackson and how much she loved him would ruin their friendly dinner. But she wanted to move on to another topic because talking about him only made her miss him more.

"So… are you still in a band?"

* * *

Charles and Trevor ushered Jackson down the sidewalk of downtown Seattle. Their drunk friend could barely walk on his own, so they both had an arm over their shoulders to keep him from falling over. Neither of them had much to drink because they were too busy monitoring their moping friend's alcohol intake. The owner of Schmo's had kicked them out of the bar – before 9:30 – due to Jackson's excessive drinking. He had been cut off, but his rant for more beer was what got them booted.

"I can walk myself, bitches," he agitatedly said, some of his words slurred. "I'm no baby."

"You could've fooled me," Charles muttered and rolled his eyes. "You got us kicked out of Schmo's, dude."

"Pshh! I've had better beer, so they can kiss my ass," Jackson scoffed. They passed by the Purple Café and his eyes were immediately drawn to the redheaded woman sitting by the window. Even in his inebriated state, he knew he wasn't hallucinating. She was definitely April – with that nurse he loathed. He pulled himself away from his friends and stomped towards the window. "April!"

He slapped his palms against the window, startling April and Zach, along with other diners nearby. His face was squished against the glass as she stared at him horrified. "That's my fiancée, asshole! Get away from her!"

"Uhh, Avery. You're creating a scene," Trevor pointed out as strangers stopped to find out what the commotion was about.

Jackson ignored him and stormed into the restaurant. He walked past the disgruntled hostess and approached April's table. Lunging forward, he supported his weight against the table, scowling hard at Zach. "This is my fiancée," he sternly said. "We're engaged. We're just on a break. Just like Ross and Rachel. On. A. BREAK. Comprende?"

"What? Jackson, how do you even know who Ross and Rachel are? You don't even watch _Friends_!" she retorted.

"Well, I've had a lot of extra time alone after work these past few weeks," he sneered, glancing back at April. Kneeling down beside her, he forcefully grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it. She immediately withdrew her hand from him causing him to frown. "April, baby, I love you. I-I I haven't thought about another woman since you left me."

She partially covered her face with her hand to hide her embarrassment. "Jackson, you're obviously drunk. You need to go home and sober up. I can't talk to you when you're like this. You're also acting like a fool and humiliating the both of us."

The manager arrived looking incredibly displeased. "Sir, you're gonna have to leave or I will call the police to escort you out of here."

Thankfully, Charles and Trevor showed up a second later to retrieve their intoxicated friend. "Don't worry about it. We've got him," the taller man said, grasping Jackson's arm and helping him up from the floor.

April watched her friends leave the restaurant with her arms folded. She was fuming inside. When they passed by the window once more she couldn't even look at Jackson. He had acted like a desperate frat boy in front of hundreds of strangers. Zach appeared uncomfortable as he fanned himself with his shirt. The poor guy didn't deserve to be a part of the confrontation. The friendly dinner was officially ruined.

She waved at their waiter and forced a smile. "Check, please."

* * *

Stepping out of the elevator of her apartment building, April slowly walked down the hallway with a doggy bag in hand. She had suffered one of the most awkward and embarrassing nights of her life. She couldn't blame Zach if he never wanted to meet her again. It was like fate had played a mean trick on her by having Jackson see them that night. And it seemed fate wasn't finished tormenting her when she reached the front door.

Sitting on the floor with his legs nearly touching the opposite wall was Jackson.

She placed a hand on her hip as she stared down at him. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here," he mumbled, drunkenly looking up at her.

"I know, but you have a key."

"I left it at Charles' place. He and Trev dropped me off."

April opened the front door causing Jackson to fall backwards onto the floor. She rolled her eyes as she stepped over him to enter their apartment. "I'm calling you a cab." While he crawled into their home, she was already calling a taxi service to pick him up. Afterwards, she filled a glass with water and handed it to him when he found his way to the couch. "Drink this."

He lay sprawled across the couch, spilling water on himself when the glass missed his mouth. "I'm sorry."

"For what you did at the restaurant earlier or for spilling the water?" she irritably replied.

Jackson rubbed his eyes, frowning back at her. "I miss you."

"I… I miss you too, but you can't turn into a drunk mess because of me. Just like I can't dwell on my own problems forever because of you." She waved her arms as she walked into the kitchen to get a towel. "I don't have time for this right now. I still have to pack for my flight, which is tomorrow afternoon."

"Flight? Where are you going?"

April returned, dropping a small towel onto his wet chest. "Virginia. I have an interview with UVA on Monday morning, followed by interviews with Georgetown and UNC later this week."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Those are all on the East coast."

"I know," she muttered. "But I don't have much of a choice now."

"But what about me? Or… us?"

"Jackson, if you think I'm trying to get away from you, I'm not. I would love it if I could stay here and work things out with you, but my surgical career matters too. I can't sit around hoping a job in Seattle will land on my lap. I have to move on."

He sat up on the couch, shaking his head. "No, we're supposed to be together. You have to stay _here_."

"I feel just as awful as you do about leaving, okay?" she tearfully admitted. "This isn't how I wanted things to end up, but I have to do what's best for me. I want you and one of these jobs more than anything else. I just can't have both right now."

Jackson set his glass on the coffee table as he stood up. He placed his hands on April's cheeks as she fought back her tears. "I love you."

"I know you do," she hoarsely responded and cleared her throat, moving her head away when he attempted to kiss her. "Don't."

"Why won't you let me kiss you?" he asked in frustration.

"A kiss isn't going to fix everything!" April snapped, stepping away from Jackson. "We aren't together right now. You have to respect that."

"What are we supposed to do when our families are here for Christmas? Fake our happiness? Pretend to love each other?"

"I still love you, Jackson! I don't know what we're going to do, but that isn't my priority at the moment. I need to prepare myself for some very important job interviews. Thinking about how to act in front of our families on Christmas will only distract me."

He furiously walked towards the front door. "Fine. Have fun in Virginia or wherever you end up in the future. I don't care. I'll find somebody better to love."

Although she knew it was his drunk side talking, his last words still hurt. She watched him leave, slamming the door shut behind him.

I'll find somebody _better_ to love? He felt like the world's biggest asshole for saying it. What was he thinking? He wasn't, actually. In the hallway, Jackson instantly realized what he had said and wanted to turn back around to tell April he didn't mean it.

But he was locked out and she definitely wasn't going to open the door for him now.

* * *

**Up next: Christmas with the Averys and Kepners ;)**


	9. Messy Christmas

**Thank you for the reviews! No comment on the last episode lol.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

What was normally April's favorite holiday became the one she dreaded the most. Christmas Day arrived, but her enthusiasm wasn't very high even with her family in town. The Kepners had arrived two days before, though she forced herself to avoid them throughout those first couple of days. She knew they would immediately grow suspicious if she had three straight days off from work, but she made sure to spend a few hours with them and give them brief tours of Seattle.

It was the first time her entire family gathered in Seattle as a complete unit and it couldn't have happened at a worse time. She and Jackson rarely spoke to each other since his drunken tirade two weeks prior. His text message apologies weren't enough for her to forgive him yet for what he had said to her. The thought of him finding someone better had always been her biggest worry since the beginning of their relationship. A lot of it was paranoia, but maybe it could happen now no matter how many times he said he loved her.

But she tried her hardest not to think about that while she prepared dinner for their families alone. Her mother insisted on arriving early to help, but April wanted to do everything on her own. The sudden surge in her independence made her feel good. She was always the most insecure Kepner daughter amongst her sisters, so she wanted to show them she could survive on her own – with or without Jackson.

The apartment's living room was large enough to create space and set up a table to fit both families, but she needed help moving around the furniture. It would have been easy to call Trevor or Charles to help, though it was more obvious to call the man who should be lending a hand.

Jackson used his key to open the front door of their home. He hadn't stepped a foot inside since that awful night and continued to stay with Charles and Reed. The latter remained annoyed by this presence, but she was grateful that he quit acting like a slob.

The smell of food cooking in the kitchen made him smile. The sight of April dressed up made him smile even more. She wore a sleeveless green dress underneath her pink apron and her hair was slightly curled. They made brief eye contact before he approached her.

"Hey. Merry Christmas," Jackson greeted her.

"Merry Christmas, Jackson," she softly returned the greeting. April paced back and forth in the kitchen checking on whatever she was preparing on the stove and attempting to finish the pies she needed to bake. "Umm… do you mind moving the couches and setting up the table before everybody arrives, please?"

"Sure," he murmured, feeling discouraged by the lack of eye contact from her. Instead of following her orders, he decided to spend a minute or two fixing his most recent mistake. He reluctantly rested his hand on her shoulder causing her to slightly flinch. "Can we talk first?"

"About?"

Jackson leaned in trying lure her eyes towards his. "I want to apologize for how I acted and what I said that one night. It doesn't matter if I was drunk. I am so sorry. It was out of line and it's not true. I'm never going to find another woman who's better than you," he truthfully said. April remained silent as she finished preparing an apple pie. "Say something. Please?"

She sighed loudly before she gazed up at him. "That was the most hurtful thing you've ever said to me."

He frowned as he slowly nodded. "And I wish I hadn't said it."

"But you did."

"I know. I felt terrible for saying it. I think Charles and Reed are intentionally torturing me by having extremely loud sex when I'm trying to sleep," he quipped, but she never cracked a smile. He decided to change the subject. "You look beautiful tonight."

"Thank you." April skimmed Jackson's attire – a white dress shirt and black pants. It was simple, yet he looked handsome in anything. She briefly smiled back at him. "You look nice too."

"How were your interviews?" he inquired. Deep down, he didn't want to know. Positive outcomes meant she was one step closer to moving away and leaving him behind.

"Uhh, they went well. All three hospitals offered me," she answered, nervously biting down on her bottom lip. "I have until next week to decide which one I'm going to work for."

Jackson scratched the back of his head. "Umm… there's a rumor going around at Seattle Grace that Chief Webber is stepping down from his position. I thought maybe I could talk to whoever takes his job and convince them to hire you back," he suggested. In this case, he wasn't making it up. For a week or two, word had spread of Webber being pushed out of his Chief of Surgery role. Nobody was exactly sure why, though doctors speculated from lawsuits to forced retirement. "There's still hope you can stay here."

April shook her head. "I can't risk losing my offers from elsewhere if this is just a rumor," she declined, walking to the oven to check on the turkey. "But thank you for thinking about me."

He slipped his hands inside of his pockets as he walked into the living room. "Yeah."

The living room was decorated with a Christmas tree in the farthest corner. All of the ornaments and lights were perfectly spaced out, something April had always been anal about. There were gifts underneath the tree and Jackson grew curious to find out if she still bought him a present. While he pushed one of the couches towards a wall, he snuck a peek at the various tags on the wrapped gifts. The handwriting was too small to read, so he casually approached the tree and crouched down.

The majority of the presents were for their families, but he spotted a white envelope with his name on it. Picking it up, the pretty boy looked back at the kitchen to see April's back facing him. When he opened the envelope, he nearly fell back as he stared at his gift.

Two courtside tickets to a Portland Trailblazers game against his beloved Boston Celtics in January. And the seats were located at midcourt.

His heart sank as he suspected she had bought the tickets early, long before they separated. And he felt horrible because his gift was lousy compared to hers. Although he had no idea she would surprise him with such an expensive present, he had always been the king of crappy gift giving. Something that seemed great in his mind actually wasn't in reality. A part of him almost wanted to bury his face into his palms and start crying.

He felt like crap.

* * *

A half an hour later, a knock on the door signaled either the arrivals of the Kepners or the Averys. April was positive it was her family because they were never late for anything. She approached the front door, putting on her fakest smile before she opened it. Her instincts were correct and the entire Kepner clan was bunched together in the hallway.

"Hi! Merry Christmas!" she chirped, gesturing her hand towards the living room. "Come in."

One by one, her family members entered the apartment all dressed up for their Christmas dinner. Each relative took a turn hugging and greeting April, while Jackson awkwardly stood by the couch sipping a beer. He had never been so afraid of Big Joe Kepner since their first meeting during their intern year. Luckily for him, he wasn't standing around wearing nothing but a towel like in the past.

"Oh my gosh, it's smells so delicious in here," Alice complimented and grinned at her older sister. "I hope it actually tastes that way too."

"Shush, I followed Mom's recipes very carefully." April walked towards Libby, who was carrying her two-year old daughter Kayla. Her niece was wearing a red Santa dress making her squeal as she gushed over how adorable she was. "Aww, look at you in your pretty dress! You're getting so big now."

Libby's six-month old son Mason was peacefully sleeping in his car seat, while her husband Carl gently rocked it back and forth. "Seriously, time flies by so fast with children. It still feels like I just gave birth to Kayla yesterday," she stated and nudged April's forearm with the back of her hand. "So, when are you and Jackson going to start making baby plans?"

The redhead grimaced and quickly smiled. "Umm, that's not something we've talked about lately." She decided to walk away to visit with Kimmie and her fiancé, Tom. Her younger sister got engaged in September with a wedding date set in August. She was to be a bridesmaid with the rest of her sisters, but thinking about weddings now made her bitter inside. Still, April was forced to pretend she was interested. "Are your wedding plans moving along smoothly?"

"Mmhmm," Kimmie hummed. Younger than April by three years, she had sent her numerous e-mails regarding measurements and invitation ideas. "Isn't it funny how you've been engaged longer than I have and I'll probably be getting married first?"

"Uh huh, yeah. Funny," she responded, clenching her jaw as she forced herself to smile.

"And where's your engagement ring?" her sister questioned and pointed at her bare left ring finger.

April had completely forgotten to wear her engagement ring for Christmas. After she broke things off with Jackson, she stopped wearing it and kept it in her jewelry box. "O-oh! I took it off when I started making dinner. I didn't want to accidentally drop it in the mashed potatoes or the cranberry sauce. I'll go get it now."

Jackson watched her rush out of the living room, then he started greeting the Kepners. He saved Big Joe for last as his ex-fiancée returned from their bedroom. "How are you doing, Joe?"

The older man firmly shook his hand and smiled. "Doing very well. And you?"

"I'm… doing great," he calmly answered. April's father was a nice guy who quickly approved of their relationship during their initial encounter. Joe had made him feel welcome when he visited Moline for the first time. He was certain he was a dead man if the truth about their broken relationship came out. "April did an amazing job with dinner."

"From the smells coming from the kitchen, I bet she did. She must spoil you with her cooking skills," Joe implied, winking at the third year resident. "I know I'll sound biased, but given she's my daughter I'm allowed to be. You picked a good one, son."

It almost felt as if he could sense Jackson's fear. He didn't think he deserved the compliment, especially after he said the most idiotic and hurtful comment to his daughter. Back at the farm, Joe had shown him his shotgun collection that he used to slaughter pigs with. He hoped her father left all of them at home in Moline.

Minutes later, there was another knock on the door. This time, Jackson answered it and greeted his family. The Averys had flown into Seattle on Christmas Eve and it was the first time he was interacting with them since they arrived. Catherine walked inside first, followed by his older sisters and lastly, the legendary Harper Avery entered.

The mood in the apartment turned somewhat awkward because the Kepners stood on one side of the living room, while the Averys were stationed at the other. Two different classes finally meeting face to face.

It wasn't a surprise that Mama Avery quickly approached Karen and embraced her with a hug. Having spoken frequently on the phone, she was thrilled to meet April's mother. "Ah, Karen. It's so wonderful to meet you in person."

"Yes, I'm so happy we're finally meeting," she agreed. "It's been too long of a wait."

Jackson half-smiled at his grandfather, who scanned his surroundings as if he was in a foreign country. "How are you, Grandpa?"

"Doing alright, Jackie. And how's your mediocre teaching hospital treating you?" Harper scoffed, eliciting an eye roll from his grandson. "I'm telling you, boy. You're not going to find better cardiothoracic teachers anywhere than at Mass Gen."

"Seattle Grace Mercy West is far from mediocre," he defensively replied. "They have some of the best attendings working there. Nobody at Mass Gen is better than say, Derek Shepherd."

"Is he a cardio surgeon?"

"Neuro."

"Then, who cares?" Harper retorted as he walked past Jackson. "Where's your bathroom?"

The pretty boy pointed towards the hallway. "Down the hallway and to your left." He pinched the bridge of his nose after his grandfather left him alone with his sisters. Samantha and Joslyn Avery snickered at his frustration. "He still doesn't get it."

"Oh, baby brother, get used to it. Until you come home to Boston, Grandpa will be nagging you until the day he dies," Samantha insisted. Three years older than Jackson, she was a worker bee, so he was shocked when he originally learned she would be visiting for Christmas. "If you want the torture to stop, then just come home already."

"I don't want to come home," he stubbornly answered. "I'm happy here in Seattle… with April."

Joslyn searched for April in the living room. "And where is that doll face hiding?" She spotted the redhead standing beside Karen as they chatted with Catherine. "There she is. Call her over here, Jackson."

Jackson waved his arm hoping April would notice. Fortunately, they made eye contact and he asked her to come over. She politely excused herself from their mothers and approached him. "You remember Sam and Jos?"

"Pshh! She wasn't born yesterday," Samantha chuckled, pulling her in for a hug. "Of course she remembers us."

"How are you two?" she asked with a smile. Her eyes darted downwards to Jackson's hand, which rested against her hip after he wrapped an arm around her. Pretending to be together included a lot of touching and fake cuddling. It was torture. "Umm, I heard you're Chief Resident at Mass Gen, Joslyn. That's really great for you."

"Thank you. It's so sweet of you to congratulate me, something my own brother hasn't done yet," Joslyn acknowledged, raising her eyebrow at Jackson. "I swear, sometimes I still wonder how a kind and thoughtful woman like you ended up with someone as inconsiderate as him."

Jackson scowled at his sister in response. Sadly, she seemed to be right about him, despite not knowing the truth about him and April. His ungratefulness was basically why they broke up in the first place. "It's because April understands me better than you and Sam put together," he argued. "Unlike you two, she gets me."

Samantha smirked back at him. "Pipe down. Jos was just teasing you. She doesn't mean it." She leaned forward towards April and whispered, "He becomes way too sensitive sometimes, huh?"

"I'm standing right here. I can hear you," he agitatedly replied. "It's Christmas. Can we not throw immature insults at each other tonight? That's all I ask. Poke fun at me all you want tomorrow, okay?"

Mama Avery clapped her hands to draw everyone's attention. "Ladies and gentlemen, since we're all here now why don't we gather at the table for dinner? We don't want April's cooking to get cold," she instructed. "April, dear. Do you need help bringing out the food?"

"Oh, no. You guys are the guests, so let Jackson and I do the work. Please, just have a seat. The food will be out shortly," April announced. She grabbed a hold of her ex's wrist and dragged him into the kitchen. "You get the turkey."

"So, uhh… we're doing alright with this fake stuff so far, right?" Jackson sheepishly asked. "They don't have a clue."

She glanced back at him unamused. "Just get the turkey for me, please."

He turned around, writing a mental note to himself to stop trying to lighten the mood with silly comments about their fake act. It seemed to only aggravate her more and more.

* * *

"So, how's work for the both of you?" Joe curiously asked in the middle of dinner. "You're lucky both of you were able to get Christmas night off. This should be one of the busiest times of the year for you young residents."

April nearly choked on her food after hearing her father's question. She cleared her throat, reaching for her glass of water. "There are enough residents to go around at the hospital, but umm… technically we're still on call," she timidly answered. Lying to Joe made her want to confess about everything on the spot. "But it's going well."

"Have there been any intriguing cases lately?" Alice questioned eagerly. Out of all of her sisters, the youngest one was especially interested in medicine. She practically idolized the redhead and was a pre-med major at UCLA. "Tell us about the most gruesome one."

"Alice, dear. We're having dinner," Karen politely scolded her, smiling down at her plate. "I know this type of conversation is normal for the doctors sitting with us, but let's save it for after we're finished eating. By the way, April, you did a wonderful job with this meal. Tastes just like home."

Catherine nodded in agreement. "Honey, everything you've made is delicious. You should be proud."

"Thank you," April shyly replied.

Jackson planted a kiss against her temple and smiled at their mothers. "She's the best, isn't she?" he gloated, ignoring the icy stare from April. He wrapped his arm over her shoulder, trying to convince everybody that they were happy. "Best cook I know."

Samantha softly laughed. "Sucking up to her isn't necessary. You're already getting married."

Any minute now, April was convinced she would crack soon. Their families believed she and Jackson were living in a perfect, drama-free world and they were spewing out lie after lie like it was okay. She pushed herself up from her seat. "Excuse me for a second. I'm going to get the pies."

"I'll help you," Alice volunteered, standing up and following her sister into the kitchen. She glimpsed back at the table before she whispered, "Is everything alright?"

"What do you mean? I'm fine," she insisted, but the skeptic look from her youngest sister said otherwise. "I promise you that nothing's wrong."

"April, this is _me_ you're talking to. I can read you better than anybody else can. The way you react to Jackson touching you is like how you should be reacting when a nasty pervert puts his hands on you," Alice pointedly said. She sighed when April refused to answer her. "Something's wrong. Just tell me. I promise I won't say anything."

Younger by six years, Alice was always the first sister to show concern for her. She couldn't pinpoint why, but they had always been close, perhaps closer than their relationships with Libby and Kimmie. They were constantly supportive of each other and this was a time when April needed her the most, yet she didn't have the heart to open up to her.

"Now isn't the time to talk about this," the older Kepner dismissively stated and carried two pies into the living room before she could react. Alice eventually followed suit with the other two pies, keeping mum about her suspicions.

While they ate dessert, Jackson decided to reveal his Christmas gift for April hoping it would lighten the mood. It had been sitting in his back pocket all along, which may or may not show just how awful he was with taking care of presents. He pulled out a small envelope and calmly handed it to her. "This is for you."

She set her fork down and casually opened it. Inside was a gift card – to a bridal shop. A discount for a wedding gown she won't be trying on anytime soon? What the hell was he thinking?

"Are you kidding me, Jackson? Are you freaking kidding me?!" she yelled, her voice growing louder with each word. Her outburst startled everyone as they immediately directed their attention towards the twosome. "A gift card? For my wedding dress? I would have rather received the sequel to _The Joy of Sex_ than this!"

"April, you should be happy about cutting the price of your dress," Libby informed her and chuckled. "Calm down."

"No, I will not calm down!" April angrily stood up, slapping her palms against the table. "I can't do this anymore. I can't continue this fake act for all of you."

Jackson's eyes widened. "Wait a minute-"

"Shut up, Jackson!" she snapped, then she stared at her parents. "Mom, Dad. I got fired in October. I accidentally killed a patient and I lost my job. And I couldn't tell you guys because I didn't want you to look at me like I'm some huge failure. It wasn't until last week did I finally receive job offers from the East coast, so I haven't been working in the past two months."

Her family stared at her speechless. The Averys were just as shocked by her confession as well.

But April wasn't finished, she looked down at Jackson, who appeared uncharacteristically pale. He knew what was coming next and he wished he could vanish into thin air. "And you want to know _why_ I'm upset with this present? It's because Jackson and I aren't getting married. In fact, we're not even together right now. He's too busy thinking about other women to plan a wedding," she harshly added.

The pretty boy shook his head as Catherine scowled at him. "It's not what you think-"

"You two _aren't_ getting married after all this time?" the urologist sternly questioned.

"I'm sorry I waited until today of all days to tell you this, but I can't take the lying anymore." April rapidly blinked her eyes to prevent her tears from escaping. She frowned at Catherine and sighed. "Your family is full of great people and I wish things were different. I'm really sorry. Maybe I wasn't meant to be an Avery."

She hurriedly rushed out of the apartment, leaving Jackson alone to face the wrath of their families. He could barely make eye contact with anybody, especially Big Joe. Visions of his brain spilling out everywhere because April's father punched him so hard made him cringe. Christmas was suddenly a disaster.

Catherine got up from her seat, walked around the table and slapped the back of Jackson's head. He painfully groaned and shielded himself with his forearms as his mother continuously smacked him. "You lied to me when I visited last month? Jackson Avery, you have a ton of explaining to do!"

"Mother, stop!" Samantha intervened, separating them with her arms. "Yes, your son is kind of a moron, but there is no reason to be violent. I think we should give him a chance to explain himself."

"I agree," Joe concurred, furrowing his eyebrows at Jackson. "Explain yourself, boy."

"Listen, I love your daughter. I never meant to hurt her," the younger man insisted. "I'm sorry we both lied to all of you. We hoped she would find another job before we would be forced to tell everyone about what happened to her. And I acted stupid. I took her for granted and a lot of this is on me."

Harper guffawed. "You wouldn't be in this position if you had stayed in Boston," he scoffed, folding his arms. The cardiothoracics god had zero sympathy for his grandson. "Maybe _now_ you'll reconsider coming home."

Jackson rolled his eyes. "No. I'd rather lose my medical license than work for you at Mass Gen," he sneered. "You don't get it, do you? I don't want to follow your footsteps. If I'm going to be the next great cardio surgeon, I want it to be because I worked for it without your help. I want to be my own person, not some arrogant, carbon copy of yourself!"

"If I were you, I'd lower that tone, young man," Catherine scolded him. "You don't have to appreciate his expectations of you, but he's still your grandfather. Show some respect."

"Don't tell me to show respect when you just spent a minute slapping me like I murdered somebody!" He huffed as he stood up. "I'm gonna go look for April."

"No, you've done enough damage, apparently," Alice intruded, signaling her sisters to join her as she headed for the front door. "_We're_ going to look for our sister. She needs us more than she needs you."

As the Kepner sisters left the apartment, Jackson stared down at his shoes wondering what to do next. His family currently resented him and April's family most likely wanted to kill him. He had nobody to blame but himself.

* * *

A few hours had passed since April fled the apartment. Calling her had been pointless because she left behind her cell phone, so her sisters or anyone else weren't able to contact her. Christmas was officially a failure after the rest of the Kepners opted to leave early. The Averys eventually retired for the night, but not without giving Jackson a lecture or two about his flaws.

He had never felt more relieved than when his family left him alone. While he knew it wouldn't be the last time they spoke before their trip back to Boston, he just wanted them gone, so he could finally sulk. Alone in the apartment, the distraught pretty boy quietly started cleaning the living room, gathering all of the dirty dishes and bringing them into the kitchen.

The front door opened and April walked inside. Her eyes and cheeks were red from the endless crying she had done while she was away. She was exhausted and emotionally drained. Seeing Jackson in the kitchen made her feel worse. She had fully expected him to be gone when she returned, but instead, he stuck around to clean up. A part of her suddenly felt guilty for how she acted in front of their families. Everyone had been enjoying themselves and she believed she ruined it with her bitterness and anger.

The sound of the faucet running distracted him from hearing her come in. She slowly approached him, clearing her throat to get his attention. He turned his head and felt a rush of relief to see her. She didn't appear irritated to see him either, which slightly confused him.

"April," he murmured, turning off the faucet and drying his hands with a towel. "Where have you been? Everyone was worried. Your sisters went out looking for you."

"I uhh… I just drove around a lot. Cried my eyes out, feeling terrible about what I did."

Jackson shook his head. "You shouldn't. You had every right to be pissed at me. I'm sorry about your present. It wasn't meant to insult you. I thought maybe… maybe it would show that I do want to marry you, but obviously that wasn't how you interpreted it," he dejectedly answered, fidgeting with his fingers. "I don't deserve what you got me in return."

"I thought about exchanging those tickets, but I bought them back in August," she admitted. "I guess I wasn't mad at you enough to want to give them away."

"Well, umm… thank you."

April frowned. "I lied to you earlier, Jackson. About my job offers. I… I already made my decision last week," she tearfully confessed. "I chose UVA. I'm moving to Virginia in two weeks."

It was like his heart exploded out of his chest. Not because she lied but the realization that she was leaving finally hit him. He had no words as he watched her cry. Inching closer to her, he wrapped his arms around her body and she didn't push him away. She simply cried against his chest as she apologized for lying to him.

"Don't apologize. I understand why you waited to tell me this," he whispered into her ear. "I know you don't want to leave."

To his surprise, she grasped his cheeks and passionately kissed him. He slightly pulled away from her, confused by her sudden advancements. "April, what are you doing?"

"Saying goodbye," the redhead softly replied, her voice cracking as tears streamed down her face. "I'm not sure I'll be able to do it when I actually have to leave. It has to be now or I'll never be able to later."

He glanced down at her hands as they frantically unbuttoned his shirt. She wanted breakup sex. In the back of his mind, it wasn't a good idea. It would only make him want more from her and there was no way in hell he would be able to keep his distance afterwards. But they had been apart for a month and he missed kissing her, holding her, making love to her. Breakup sex was not supposed to be a part of their relationship ever.

But unfortunately, that was the case now.

There was no point in fighting it considering April spent most of their separation avoiding him. He nearly ripped off his shirt and picked her up in one swift move. His mouth devoured hers as he carried her into their bedroom.

* * *

**Things just got a little more complicated, huh? :P**


	10. Desperation Heave

**As usual, thank you for the reviews! Part of this chapter is based on 6x13 *hint hint* ;)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Jackson panted heavily after April rolled off of him in their bed. He stared at the ceiling wondering why he continued to allow himself to give in to the obvious desires between them. It was the third time since Christmas that they engaged in breakup sex. He blamed those damn yoga pants she wore when he arrived at their apartment to do some laundry. She was leaving in a week, so what was the point? All this did was torture him internally knowing she would be moving across the country soon.

New Year's was the worst. He knew he shouldn't have given in to her intoxicated demands, but she was always an attractive drunk. And it hadn't helped that she was already working her magic hands on him before he could reject her. Charles gave him a hard time about it, calling him weak for letting himself fall into the breakup sex trap. Neither of them were ever going to stop unless one of them stepped up and said it.

"We have to stop," he exhaled, his eyes remaining focused on the ceiling. One small glance at April's naked body and he was certain they would go at it again. "It was supposed to be a one-time thing. We can't do this anymore."

"Uh huh," she murmured, pulling the covers against her chest as she curled up into a ball. She lay on her side, staring at the wall with a frown on her face. "This is my fault."

"It's not your fault. I wanted this too," he assured her and softly chuckled. "It's both of our faults."

"Maybe you should go now," April suggested. "Your laundry's been sitting in the dryer for the past hour, so it's done."

Jackson slowly nodded. "Yeah, I should go."

Except he hadn't budged at all. Although he knew he should leave, he didn't want to. His conscience told him otherwise, but he rarely listened to his imaginary Jiminy Cricket. He preferred following Awesome Avery's advice down below. And April was a fan, so how could he not?

The silence in the bedroom was unbearable. Nobody was moving or making a sound. "Jackson," she muttered. "You haven't left yet. Leaving consists of getting out of bed, putting on your clothes and walking out of the room."

"I know, but I'm comfortable at the moment," he awkwardly replied. The pretty boy lifted up the blanket and realized he wasn't quite relaxed yet. He turned his head to look at April. All he could see was her messy, auburn hair and her back. And the only thought running through his head was his lips gently kissing her pale skin _again_.

"Then… I'll go get your laundry for you," she insisted, climbing out of bed to put on her robe.

Jackson noticed she avoided looking at him on her way out of the bedroom. The breakup sex was probably more emotionally painful for her because she had initiated it. When she wasn't in bed with him she was packing her belongings into boxes. The majority of her things were already packed and in a week, the apartment would be his alone.

He continued to hope there would be a way for April to stay in Seattle. Chaining her to a chair was his last ditch effort to prevent her from leaving. After what happened on Christmas, he was surprised her parents hadn't attempted to bring her home to Ohio. He was far from their favorite person, but he felt grateful that Big Joe hadn't fractured his eye socket for hurting his daughter. Her sisters despised him and his own family thought he disgraced the Avery name.

Losing the respect of his family _and_ the love of his life? He started to feel hopeless.

His ex-fiancée returned with a laundry basket and set it next to the bed. "Here you go," she sighed. He simply stared at her fixedly, his bluish-green eyes likely trying to disrobe her. "Stop that."

"Stop what?" he innocently questioned with a smirk.

"Stop looking at me like your eyes have x-ray vision. You just saw me naked five minutes ago," she scolded him, placing her hands on her hips. "Jackson, this is really hard for me."

"That's what she said," he quipped.

"Jackson!" April slapped his chest as he laughed at her. "I'm serious right now."

He reached for her hand and pulled her towards him. "Alright, I'm sorry. I can't help myself, which is the problem." Sitting up on the bed, he forced her to sit on his lap. "This is why breakup sex was a bad idea."

"You're telling me," she dejectedly replied.

Jackson pushed aside part of her robe and kissed her shoulder. "Let's make a deal. One more time, then afterwards, we avoid each other. No contact whatsoever. No phone calls, texts, anything until you're in Virginia," he proposed, his hand slipping underneath her robe. "What do you think?"

April timidly bit her lower lip as he untied her robe. As dreadful as it sounded, it made sense to avoid each other because she needed to focus on preparing to move across the country. She couldn't do that when they were screwing each other's brains out. "Okay," she softly answered. "We'll avoid each other."

He could see her trying not to cry, so he cupped her cheek and kissed her lips. "It's for the best. Doesn't mean I love you less."

"Y-yeah, I know," she tearfully responded, wiping away a tear with her hand.

"We'll be okay," he promised, gently laying her onto her back and passionately kissing her.

* * *

With three days left until April's move to Virginia, both she and Jackson fulfilled their agreement by avoiding every possible contact with each other. The latter refused to let their friends tell him how she was doing. Knowing how she was feeling would only make him feel crappier than he already did. He went as far as deleting her number from his cell phone, despite memorizing it in his head.

Charles and Reed stared at their friend, who was seated beside them in the cafeteria. However, he hadn't touched his lunch at all. Instead, Jackson was hunched over with his chin resting on the table and his arms sprawled out in front of him. He looked like a mopey hound dog, but more pathetic and less adorable. The pout on his face made him even more pathetic.

"Dude, maybe it's time to move on, you know? Start seeing other women to get your mind off of April," the burly man suggested, drawing a scowl from his girlfriend. "What? They're not together. There's no written rule that he can't date other people."

"But the point is he _doesn't_ want to date anybody else. He wants April, you idiot," Reed retorted, adding an eye roll. She patted the back of Jackson's hand. "And it's too soon. They are still completely in love. Neither of them are ready to move on."

Jackson's eyes shifted towards her. "Thank you, Reed. For once, I agree with you," he replied in monotone. Truthfully, he hadn't expected their second bout of separation to be so excruciating. Perhaps it was because April wasn't upset with him like the first time. They were on surprisingly good terms, yet it was still awkward between them. "God, I'm horny."

The brunette cringed. "You have two hands to help you out."

"Or Avery could start dating other women, so he wouldn't have to use his hands all the time," Charles noted. "I've seen some nurses checking you out. They're pretty cute."

"Will you stop? If he doesn't want to see other people, then don't push it. Also, as April's best friend, I'm about ready to beat your ass. She's your friend too. You should know she's feeling just as miserable."

Jackson groaned and covered his ears with his hands. "Please stop saying her name. It's bad enough she's on my mind 24/7, so call her Helga or some other name that turns me off," he whined.

"You know what you should do then? Talk to Shepherd. Beg him to give Apr- Bertha her job back now that he's the new Chief of Surgery," his best friend advised with a grin. "Maybe he'll understand."

Earlier that morning, the hospital staff was shocked to learn that Webber had been officially replaced as Chief of Surgery by the neurosurgeon. For Jackson, turning to Derek might only put him at a disadvantage, he thought. The man probably had his favorites and none of them were from Mercy West. And the last time they worked closely together, he made a fool of himself because he was too proud to drink water.

"Or maybe he won't," he negatively answered. "He'll probably pick us off first to begin with because we're not originally Seattle Grace doctors. There are still cuts to be made. Why the hell would he try adding more people? It doesn't make sense."

"How about you give it a shot before you start claiming it's not possible?" Reed irritably replied. "Stop being a Dummy Downer and talk to Shepherd. There's a chance he'll listen. He seems to want to kick things off with a fresh start."

"And what if he turns me down?"

"You can't say you didn't try," she nonchalantly said. "Don't be a pussy, Jackson. You're a freaking Avery. You're supposed to be confident and arrogant. No wonder your family thinks so lowly of you right now."

He furrowed his brow at his friend. "You're annoying."

"That hasn't stopped you from listening to me," she gloated, smiling to herself as she ate her lunch.

Rather than stay in the cafeteria and go crazy listening to Reed, Jackson pushed himself up from his seat and shoved his hands inside of his lab coat pockets. "I'm gonna go talk to Shepherd," he declared, leaving the couple behind as he headed out.

He wasn't quite positive where Derek was, so he decided to check his new office first. When he reached the catwalk he spotted the neurosurgeon sitting behind his desk and walked towards the door. It was closed, so he knocked first.

"Come in," he called out, looking up when Jackson entered his office. "Dr. Avery, what brings you here?"

"I need to ask you about something. Am I bothering you?"

Shepherd shook his head and waved him over. "No, you're not bothering me. In fact, I welcome people bothering me, so I don't have to deal with this boring paperwork right now. I don't even know what half of these papers are for," he insisted. "Have a seat."

Jackson took a seat in front of the desk, folding his hands on his lap. "Okay, so… I understand the hospital is still making cuts, but I would like to ask you for a favor. Umm, you remember April Kepner, right?" he nervously inquired.

"Yes, I do. Your fiancée?" He watched the third year resident grimace and slightly shrug. "Not your fiancée?"

"We've been sort of having issues lately," Jackson vaguely answered. "I was- well, I was wondering if there was any possible way you could give her a second chance to work here? She- she's a competent doctor regardless of what happened the night she was fired. If you give April her job back, she'll show you she's better than what you've seen from her."

Derek curiously stared at him. "Has she not been able to find work since her firing?"

"UVA recently hired her and she's scheduled to move to Virginia in three days," he glumly replied, shaking his head. "Listen, I know you don't know me or any of my Mercy West friends very well, so I know I'm at a disadvantage here. But April is important to me. I mean, very important. I've loved her since my intern year and I can't handle her leaving."

"Dr. Avery-"

"I don't want to sound like some clichéd, desperate teenage boy, but I _can't_ live without her. Please, Chief Shepherd," Jackson pleaded with a frown on his face. He couldn't believe he brought himself to the point of begging, but this was his last option. If he needed to beg on his knees, he would do it. "If… if Meredith Grey was about to move across the country, you would do everything in your power to keep her in Seattle, right?"

The neurosurgeon pursed his lips and exhaled through his nose. "Of course I would. She's my wife." He softly smiled at the young resident. "Dr. Avery, I know you mean well. In the little time I've worked with Dr. Kepner, she showed to be a reliable student. I won't make any guarantees, but I'll see what I can do."

Jackson let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you. Just one more chance. That's all I ask," he politely stated. "I know this would mean a lot to her too."

"Like I said, no guarantees. Don't celebrate yet," he noted. "Is that all you needed from me?"

"For now, yes." The pretty boy stood up and extended out his hand. "Thank you again, sir."

"Have a nice day, Avery," Derek acknowledged, shaking the man's hand.

Leaving the Chief's office with a smile on his face, Jackson felt more optimistic about keeping April in Seattle. He was positive Shepherd would negotiate something with her since he sounded impressed with their past collaborations. Maybe he did like some of the Mercy West crew, he thought. He decided not to tell his ex about his plan, hoping it would be a lovely surprise for her that Seattle Grace Mercy West wanted her to come back. The only thing he dreaded was thanking Reed for being right _again_.

April staying in Seattle meant they could finally work out their differences and hopefully, get married. He had learned his lesson the hard way, but he hoped he would be able to redeem himself by convincing Derek to give back her job.

She couldn't deny him after that.

* * *

The following morning, April invited Trevor over to the apartment to help her pack the rest of her belongings. Her friend had been busier since landing the job at the University of Washington and he gladly agreed to use his day off to lend a helping hand. There was little time left for them to hang out, so he wanted to spend that time with her as much as possible.

"Are you sure you don't want a going away party?" he asked while sealing one of the boxes with duct tape. "It could be a small one. Doesn't have to be extravagant."

"Yes, I'm sure. A party means Jackson's invited and we agreed not to have any contact with each other until I'm in Virginia," she explained. "We can't be around each other right now. It'll only lead to more breakup sex. Don't get me wrong. It's good. It's really, really good, but it's also horrible."

Trevor snickered to himself. "Never heard sex being so horribly good before. I get it. You two aren't over each other. The breakup sex is normal… I think." He smirked at his redheaded friend. "So, when you're in Virginia are you and Jackson going to have a ton of phone sex then?"

She hesitated to answer, opening and closing her mouth quickly. "I… I don't know."

"Don't tell me you've never tried it before. You two didn't always live together when you were dating."

"Okay, we tried it once when we didn't live together, but…" Her cheeks slowly turned rosy as she recalled the awkward experience in her head. "…it got too steamy and Reed walked in thinking I was dying. I got a little too noisy."

Trevor laughed out loud causing April to punch his arm. "I'm sorry. The visual image was entertaining."

"I felt better engaging in the real thing," she murmured, then she suddenly gasped. "Oh, gosh! I'm probably going to have a sexless life until I finish my residency! I have a hard time believing I'll find somebody else who matches up to Jackson. In fact, I don't want to find another guy – even though he could end up finding a new woman."

"He won't. Trust me. Avery will forever be in love with you," he assured her. "Hung out at Charles' place last night. We weren't allowed to talk about you because he would get upset every time. I could've sworn I saw some glossiness in his eyes."

"Trev, shut up! That makes me feel worse," she retorted. "I know he misses me. Nobody has to tell me. I miss him too. I'll miss everybody when I leave. Even dumb Charles and bitchy Swanson."

"Aside from Jackson, you'll miss me the most, right?" Trevor asked, giving April the puppy lip. He considered her to be his best friend, especially after everything they had been through. "I'm much more likable than Reed, you know."

She chuckled as she continued to pack her stuff. "You two are like apples and oranges. I love you both. But yeah, I'll miss you a lot. We've confided in each other about a lot of personal things. Sometimes I talk to you before I even talk to Jackson. You and I just have this understanding between each other that I don't have with Jackson. It's kind of obvious at the moment, don't you think?"

"To be honest, I think you and Jackson understand each other more than anybody else does," he admitted. "It's just you two finally reached a point in your relationship when things weren't perfect and neither of you knew how to handle it. It all pretty much bit you both in the ass, but Jackson seems to realize all of this now."

"A little too late, though," April disappointedly added. Her cell phone started ringing beside her on the floor. She picked it up and raised both of her eyebrows when she saw Derek's number. "Dr. Shepherd is calling me. Should I answer it?"

Trevor threw his arms up and laughed. "That's like asking me if you should cash in your winning lottery ticket!" he scoffed, gesturing his hand towards the ringing cell phone. "Of course you answer it!"

Taking a deep breath, the redhead answered the call and pressed her phone against her ear. "Hello? Yes, this is she…" Her eyes widened as she listened to Shepherd explain why he was calling her. "Really? I mean- of course. Of course, I can meet with you tonight. Eight o'clock is good with me. Thank you, Dr. Shepherd."

After April hung up, her friend became incredibly curious. "What did he want?"

"He asked me to meet with him in his office- the _Chief_'s office tonight. He didn't specifically tell me why. Apparently, he's the hospital's new Chief of Surgery. Anyway, he told me it's important," she explained. "Do you think it's good news?"

"What else could it be?" Trevor responded and chuckled. "It has to be. Why else would he call you to come down to the hospital? Maybe you're getting your job back!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. It could be about anything. It might not even be about me. He could be asking me to see him to complain about Jackson or whatever. Or he found a job for me in the morgue," she suspiciously wondered. "Whatever it is, I have to avoid Jackson at the hospital. He can't know I'm there, okay? Don't secretly text him or anything."

"Sure. Surprise him after you get your job back," he insinuated, grinning when she slightly scowled at him. "What? I'm already a thousand percent positive that you're staying in Seattle. Seriously, April. Have more faith in yourself."

April rubbed her cheeks and groaned. "Is this really happening? After spending the past couple of weeks searching for a new place to live and preparing to leave, I may not have to move at all?" she whined, then she let out a laugh. "This is a nice way to start off a new year if it's what I think it is."

* * *

Jackson strolled through the hallway with his hands in his pockets. So far, he hadn't heard any news of April getting her job back. He hoped Shepherd would have listened to him yesterday and jump on it immediately, but no word from anybody. A part of him wanted to pay the neurosurgeon another visit and ask him what was taking so long except he thought that might screw his ex's chances of coming back to Seattle Grace Mercy West. He told himself he needed to be patient, though waiting was only making him more impatient.

_Two days_, he constantly reminded himself. More like, one and a half days until April leaves him behind. He didn't want to think about it, but he couldn't help it. Their lack of contact forced him to continuously think about her.

A nurse cut him off in the hallway and called out his name. She had dark brown hair, tan skin and a nice smile. "Dr. Avery, a little bird told me you're on the dating block," she greeted him, her eyes slowly scanning his figure. "Is there a specific type of woman you're interested in?"

Whoever this little bird was, Jackson wanted to kick their ass. And there was only one bird – a _giant_ bird – who would start setting him up with women at work. He noticed Charles standing by the nurses' station and grinning from ear to ear. His best friend briefly glanced back at him and gave him a thumbs up.

"Uhh, no specifics," he unenthusiastically responded.

"I'm Lacey," she introduced herself. "I occasionally see you passing by from my station. You have gorgeous eyes."

"Thanks," the pretty boy murmured, shuffling his feet uncomfortably. He wanted to walk away as fast as he could, but he didn't want to be rude either. She was attractive, but she wasn't April. "Umm… I really should get going."

"Meet me at Joe's after work? We'll mingle over a drink or two. Nothing major."

Jackson chewed on the inside of his lip. He hadn't made any plans for the night and it wasn't a date. Just drinks. Charles would somehow force him to accept the offer anyway. "Sure, I guess," he answered, slowly shrugging his shoulders.

"I'll meet you at eight then?"

He nodded, forcing a smile as he walked past the nurse. After he approached his former roommate, he punched Charles' shoulder hard. "You're a dead man."

"What? You're a single man. Play the field a bit," Charles nonchalantly replied. "You're not gonna meet anybody if you keep pretending you're unavailable."

Jackson pinched the bridge of his nose and inhaled sharply. "Did it ever occur to you that I _don't_ want to meet new people? April is the only woman who matters to me," he sternly stated.

"So, why'd you agree to drinks with Nurse Lacey?"

"It gives me an excuse to drink at Joe's. And maybe… I will invite April to join me," he implied.

"What happened to your 'no contact' rule?"

"You know what? Fuck it. If she does end up leaving because Shepherd didn't keep his word, then I have to see her again before she goes. This could be the last time I see her in person for the next year or so." Jackson placed his forearms on the countertop and rested his chin on top of them. "Thinking about it makes my stomach hurt."

Charles patted his friend's back. "That's why you use Nurse Lacey to distract yourself for an hour or two. You saw her up close. She's hot."

"It doesn't matter how hot she is. She's not who I want to be with, jackass," he retorted, glaring at the burly man. "Besides, it's too soon to be moving on. I can only consider myself ready to move on if I'm completely over April, which isn't the case."

"Okay, but let's say April still moves to Virginia, despite getting back her job here. Would you move on then?"

"No," Jackson answered without hesitation. "And I know her. She'll stay."

* * *

Sitting inside of Derek's office, April and another female quietly waited for him to finish a phone call outside on the catwalk. The woman beside the redhead was unfamiliar, but she was pregnant. She wondered what the neurosurgeon wanted to see her for. The silence built up too much tension for her to handle, so she decided to introduce herself.

"Hi, I'm April Kepner," she introduced herself, extending out her hand to the woman.

"Megan Mostow," the other woman replied. "Are you a surgeon too?"

"Yes, but not here at the moment," April sheepishly said, tucking strands of her hair behind her ear. "I got fired."

"So did I," Megan sighed, resting her hands against her belly. "They fired me via e-mail before the merger. I mean, how unprofessional is that? I sued the hospital for wrongful termination. I think I was an easy target because I was pregnant. Were you fired before the merger too?"

She forced herself to laugh as she shook her head. "Oh, no. I'm originally from Mercy West, actually. I… I kind of killed a patient and Dr. Webber fired me."

"Well, at least he had a legitimate reason to. No offense," the pregnant woman muttered. She grimaced when April stared back at her appalled. "I'm sure you didn't mean to kill the patient, but the margin of error's really small due to so many people fighting for jobs. This whole merger fiasco screwed over a lot of doctors' careers. You were satisfied with how Mercy West used to be, yeah?"

April nodded. "Everything was fine with my fiancé- I mean, ex-fiancé. We were happy and not worrying about losing our jobs to Seattle Grace doctors." She stared at Derek through the window. "Why do you think he asked us to see him?"

"Hopefully, for something meaningful," Megan answered, sounding hopeful. "I hope he's finished with his call soon. My bladder feels like it's about to explode any minute now."

"Umm… are you excited about the baby?" she questioned eagerly. "I want to become a mother myself one day."

The second year resident half-smiled at her. "I suppose so. I'm more relieved to know who the father is."

April looked away with a fake grin on her face. "That's a nice thing to know."

Finally, Derek returned to his office and smiled at the two women. April nearly held her breath as he took a seat behind his desk. She hoped she wasn't asked to come down to the hospital just for bad news. He appeared to be in a good mood, albeit tired at the same time.

"Good evening, Dr. Kepner and Dr. Mostow. Thank you for joining me here tonight," he started, folding his hands on top of his desk. "As the new Chief of Surgery of this hospital, I would like to begin my new tenure by fixing some wrongs into rights. I'd like to offer each of you your jobs back. Now, there are gonna be cuts down the line, but you both deserve a fighting chance."

"Oh my God," Megan gasped, smiling brightly at Derek.

"Thank you, Dr. Shepherd. Thank you," April graciously responded. "Thank you."

_Holy shit!_ the perky redhead exclaimed in her head. She was staying in Seattle. How she got so lucky, she had no idea, but Derek Shepherd was comparable to a god at that moment. He practically saved her from leaving her second home _and_ Jackson behind.

"I'll give you two a day to think about accepting the offer, but I'm positive neither of you will turn this down," Derek continued, smiling at the two residents as they hugged in celebration. "Anyway, that's all I wanted to inform you about. Now I just need you to fill out some paperwork before you go home. And welcome back."

Both doctors spent the next few minutes filling out paperwork for the hospital. When they were finished Megan left first, but April opted to stay a little longer to continue thanking the Chief for the very late Christmas present.

"Dr. Shepherd, I don't know how many times I have to tell you this, but _thank you_," she excitedly said. "I was about ready to move across the country for another job and now I don't have to. And I have you to thank for that."

Derek placed his hand on April's shoulder as he walked her to the door. "Actually, you should thank Dr. Avery," he insisted with a smile. "Jackson came into my office yesterday and explained your situation to me. Sounded very brokenhearted about you leaving. He's seems like a very committed guy. I hope you two will work things out now."

She raised her eyebrow at him. "He asked you to give me my job back?"

"That's a man who loves you." He opened the door for her and smiled once more. "See you again soon, Dr. Kepner."

April walked out of Derek's office with her head held high. She almost skipped through the catwalk as she couldn't hold back her excitement. Her family would be thrilled about the news, her friends and obviously, Jackson would be over the moon about her staying. On her way out of the hospital, she spotted Reed in the parking lot.

"Reed!" she shouted, running towards her best friend. "I'm staying! I got my job back!"

"You what?" the brunette screamed elatedly. She hugged April and started jumping around in a circle with her. "I knew Shepherd would give you another chance if Jackson talked to him. He almost didn't want to try."

"I have to go find him," she breathlessly said. "I-I I have to call him. Do you know if he's still working?"

Reed pointed behind her. "Heard Charles say something about Jackson going to Joe's. He should be there."

"Okay. I'm gonna go over there and tell him the news." April squealed, clenching her fists as she bounced up and down. She grinned uncontrollably as she ran past her former roommate. "I'll call you later, alright? Oh my God, I'm staying in Seattle!"

"I'll understand if you don't call me at all!" she yelled out. "You'll probably be too busy having tons of hot sex with Jackson!"

Running across the street to Joe's, April eagerly entered the bar. She stood by the exit searching for Jackson inside. He was standing by the bar with a glass in his hand and she started to approach him until she realized he wasn't there alone. Beside him was Nurse Lacey as they engaged in some sort of conversation. She watched him whisper something into the nurse's ear and laugh with her.

He didn't look like a guy who was distraught about her leaving, she thought. And she did not appreciate the other woman's hand on his bicep.

April felt embarrassed to be there. While she had been wanting to explode because of her excitement over getting back her job at SGMW, Jackson was at Joe's enjoying himself with someone else. Then again, she had been the dumper and he had every right to move on. She just didn't assume it would happen so fast, especially since he was responsible for keeping her in Seattle. Breakup sex seemed like an even worse idea now.

Rather than interrupt the conversation, she turned around and left the bar.

* * *

**C'mon, that would've been too easy. Gotta hang on to the angst a little longer :P**


End file.
